Felix

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Felix

Gender: Masculine
Language: English, French, German, Latin
Etymology:
Felix comes from a Latin word meaning “Happy.”

History:
Felix, because it meant “happy,” was a popular name among early Christians and it belonged to several early popes and saints. It has been present in England since the Middle Ages, but has never become as popular there as its feminine form (Felicia) did. Felix was much more popular in France and Germany.

Pronunciation: feel-ix.

Alternates:
Dutch: Feel.
English (Medieval): Felis, Felyse.
French: Félix, Félicité, Felicien.
Italian: Felice.
Polish: Feliks, Felicjan, Szczesny.

Feminine: Felicia.

Famous Bearers:
Artists and Authors:
Felice Anerio (1560-1614)
Italian composer.
Felice Giardini (1716-1796)
Italian composer.
Félix María Samaniego (1745-1801)
Spanish poet.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
German composer.
Felix Mottl (1856-1911)
Austrian conductor.
Felix Salten (Siegmund Salzmann) (1869-1945)
Austrian novelist.
Felix Timmermans (1886-1947)
Flemish writer.
Felice Casorati (1886-1963)
Italian painter.
Félix-Antoine Savard (1896-1982)
French-Canadian poet.
Felix Candela (1910-1997)
Spanish-American architect.

Educators, Scholar, and Social Workers:
Félix Pyat (1810-1889)
French journalist.
Felix Dahn (1834-1912)
German historian.
Felix Adler (1851-1933)
American educator.

Miscellaneous:
Felice Cavollotti (1842-1898)
Italian revolutionary journalist.

Political Figures:
Félicité Lamennais (1782-1854)
French revolutionary priest.
Felice Orsini (1819-1858)
Italian revolutionary.
Félix-Jules Méline (1838-1925)
French politician.
Félix Faure (1841-1899)
French president.
Feliks Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (1877-1926)
Bolshevik leader.
Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965)
Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Félix Éboué (1884-1944)
French colonial administrator.
Felix Houphouët-Boigny (1905-1993)
President of the Ivory Coast.

Religious Figures:
Saint Felix I (?-274)
Pope from 269 to 274.
Felix (II) (?-365)
Antipope.
Saint Felix III (?-492)
Pope from 483 to 492.
Saint Felix IV (?-530)
Pope from 526 to 530.
Felix (?-818)
Bishop of Urgel, Spain.
Saint Felix of Valois (1127-1212)
French hermit.
Felix de Andreis (1778-1820)
Missionary to the American west.

Scientists:
Félix-Archimède Pouchet (1800-1872)
French naturalist.
Felix Dujardin (1801-1860)
French biologist.
Félix Tisserand (1845-1896)
French astronomer.
Felix Klein (1849-1925)
German mathematician.
Félix d’Hérelle (1873-1949)
French-Canadian microbiologist.
Felix Andreis Vening Meinesz (1887-1966)
Dutch geophysicist.
Felix Wankel (1902-1988)
German engineer.
Felix Bloch (1905-1983)
Swiss-American physicist. Co-winner of the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics.

Popularity:
Percentage from the 1990 U.S. Census:
0.058 % named Felix

Popularity of Felix:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1850: 124th most popular.
1875: 178th most popular.
1900-1910: 149th most popular.
1910-1920: 154th most popular.
1920-1930: 176th most popular.
1930-1940: 170th most popular.
1940-1950: 206th most popular.
1950-1960: 231st most popular.
1960-1970: 255th most popular.
1970-1980: 246th most popular.
1980-1990: 310th most popular.
1990: 290th most popular.
1991: 306th most popular.
1992: 297th most popular.
1993: 314th most popular.
1994: 325th most popular.
1995: 317th most popular.
1996: 327th most popular.
1997: 321st most popular.
1998: 348th most popular.
1999: 336th most popular.
2000: 335th most popular.
2001: 338th most popular.
2002: 359th most popular.
2003: 354th most popular.

In France...
1900: 44th most popular.
1910: 42nd most popular.
1920: 57th most popular.
1930: 63rd most popular.
1940: 83rd most popular.
1950: 122nd most popular.
1960: 163rd most popular.
1964: 196th most popular.
1970-1980: N/A
1988: 177th most popular.
1990: 158th most popular.
2000: 139th most popular.

Popularity of Felicien:
Popularity (for newborns):
In France...
1900: 142nd most popular.
1910: 140th most popular.
1920: 143rd most popular.
1930: 174th most popular.
1939: 196th most popular.
1940-2000: N/A