Felicity

About Felicity

Felicity is an English name meaning “happiness,” with roots in the Latin word felicitas, “good luck” or “fortune.” Its four syllables give it a longer rhythm than many English virtue names. It has both an early Christian association through Saint Felicity and modern connections with actor Felicity Jones and the television character Felicity Porter.

Meaning and historical use

Felicity developed from the English word for happiness and was among the virtue names adopted by Puritans around the seventeenth century. Like Hope and Charity, it makes an abstract idea into a personal name, although its Latin-derived form gives it a different sound from those shorter English words.

The name can also serve as an English form of Felicitas. In Roman tradition, Felicitas personified good fortune. The same Latin name later belonged to a Christian martyr remembered alongside Perpetua.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity were imprisoned in Carthage in 203. Their story became an important part of early Christian memory, and their shared feast is observed on March 7. This religious history is older than the later English practice of choosing Felicity as a virtue name.

Related forms and pronunciation

The English pronunciation is fuh-LISS-i-tee, with the main stress on the second syllable. The repeated light vowels carry the name toward its final tee sound.

Flick is an established short form. French Félicité, Italian Felicita, and Latin Felicitas belong to the same family. Hope and Joy share Felicity’s broad category of positive word names, but they do not come from its Latin root.

Film and television

Felicity Jones played Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, released in 2016. Jyn joins a group of rebels attempting to obtain the information needed to destroy the Death Star. The role connects Felicity with one of the central missions behind the original Star Wars story.

Jones also received a leading-actress Oscar nomination at the 2015 ceremony for The Theory of Everything. Her film career gives the name a recognizable bearer beyond the world of the Star Wars franchise.

The television series Felicity ran from 1998 to 2002, with Keri Russell playing Felicity Porter. Russell won a Golden Globe in 1999 for her performance. In this case Felicity is the character’s name and the show’s title, rather than the name of the actor portraying her.

American popularity

Felicity was recorded for 634 girls in the United States in 2000. The count fell to 358 in 2010 before climbing again; its highest annual birth count in the local SSA series was 938 in 2017, when it ranked #345.

In 2025, Felicity was given to 653 girls and ranked #473. Its modern American history therefore includes more than one period of increased use, while the name’s religious and English word-name traditions extend much further back.

How popular is Felicity?

In 2025, Felicity ranked #473 among girls in the United States, with 653 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1935; its largest annual count was 938 in 2017. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.