A female name. the history of this name is much confused with that of Phyllis (q.v.). There was a St Felicia of Nicomedia of unknown date, and the name, which is a f. form of Felicius, a 3rd-C derivative of Felix (q.v.), is found in use in England from the end of the 12th C. The vernacular form of the name was Felice or Felis (cf. French Félise): Felice occurs in Piers Plowman; Lyford 1655 says: ‘Felice see Felix in Men’s names.’ In 1577 the name is found spelt Phelis, and there seems little doubt that many of the 17th-C Phyllis’s were really Felice’s. A writer to Notes and Queries in 1874 says: ‘I have known 3 instances of the name Felicia being given in Cheshire. In one case it was always shortened to Phyllis.’ But it was only in out-of-the-way corners that the name survived, and G. M. Hopkins writing to Coventry Patmore in 1883 about one of his poems says: ‘Felicia - I do not understand the name. Is it a proper name, or the neuter plural of felix?' Patmore replied: ‘I used the name Felicia because it is a name, and suggests itself as the female of Felix. Felicitas would not have done.’ At the present time Felicity (q.v.) is much more common.

Felicia Curia Regis Rolls 1199, 1218, Feudal Aids 1303, 1316, 1401. Felice English Register of Oseney Abbey, c. 1460 (E.E.T.S. 133-4) 1460. Felisia Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Felis Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Filisia Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Fillys Church Registers of St. James’s, Clerkenwell, 1551-1754 1569.

A variant, as in Felicia Hemans the once famous poetess, of Felicity.

A female name formed from Felix. According to some, Jocosa (Joyce) is out of use, and Felicia is now more often used instead; but Felicia is quite as old a name as Jocosa. ‘Henry le Despenser and Felicia his wife’ occur in Rot. Pat. 29 Ed. I (1300—1). See N. Q. 5th S. i. 518.

Latin (feminine) - Happy.