Was Felix in the Bible a Jew?

Acts does not call Felix Jewish. Acts 24:24 describes his wife Drusilla as "Jewish," while Felix appears as the governor who kept Paul in prison for two years.

Christian Boy Names Starting With F: Which Saint Francis, and Is Xavier in the Bible?

In 1 Corinthians 16:17-18 Paul writes that the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus "refreshed my spirit," which makes Fortunatus an F name borne by a believer in the New Testament. Felix and Festus are in the Bible too, as the governors who heard Paul's case in Acts 24-26.

Most Christian F names come from saints. Francis, the largest family, began as a nickname: the Catholic Encyclopedia records that Francis of Assisi was baptized Giovanni and that his father changed the name to Francesco.

Xavier is not a biblical name. Behind the Name traces it to the Basque place name Etxeberria, "the new house," the castle where Francis Xavier was born in 1506, and his surname later became a given name chiefly among Catholics.

Fabian, Fidelis and Florian each rest on a different kind of record: an election story told by Eusebius, a name taken on entering a religious order, and a short note on a 3rd-century martyr.

Quick Facts

Believer named in scripture: Fortunatus, 1 Corinthians 16:17-18
Governors who heard Paul: Felix (Acts 24) and Festus (Acts 25-26)
How Francis began: A father's nickname, Francesco, for a boy baptized Giovanni
Three Saint Francises: Assisi (died 1226), Xavier (died 1552), de Sales (died 1622)
Origin of Xavier: The Castle of Xavier in Navarre, from Basque Etxeberria

Which Saint Francis is a boy named Francis named for?

The name Francis spread from a nickname. The Catholic Encyclopedia records that Francis of Assisi "received the name of Giovanni" at baptism, which his father afterwards changed to Francesco, "through fondness it would seem for France."

Behind the Name gives the Late Latin source as Franciscus, "Frenchman," and says the saint's renown made Francis widespread in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Behind the Name does not give the "free man" gloss that some lists print.

Three saints named Francis
Saint	How he came to be called Francis	Lived	Where he worked	Canonized
Francis of Assisi	Baptized Giovanni; his father renamed him Francesco in infancy	Born at Assisi in 1181 or 1182; died 3 October 1226	Assisi, where he gathered the brothers he named the Friars Minor	16 July 1228, by Gregory IX
Francis Xavier	Francis was his given name; Xavier is the castle where he was born	7 April 1506 to 2 December 1552	Goa in India from 1542, then Japan from 1549	Bull of canonization issued in 1623
Francis de Sales	His given name; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not say whom it honored	21 August 1567 to 28 December 1622	The Chablais mission from 1594, then Bishop of Geneva from 1602	1665, by Alexander VII

Each of the three honors a different kind of life. In Behind the Name's account, Francis of Assisi gave up his father's wealth to serve the poor and founded the Franciscan order of friars.

Francis Xavier shared lodgings in Paris in 1529 with Ignatius Loyola, who was then planning the Society of Jesus, and spent his last decade as a missionary in Asia. Francis de Sales wrote the "Introduction to the Devout Life" and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877.

The feminine forms Frances and Francesca, and the women who bore them, belong with the Christian girls' names starting with F.

Where does the name Xavier come from, if not the Bible?

Xavier is not a name from the Bible. It began as the Basque place name Etxeberria, "the new house" in Behind the Name's account, then became a saint's surname and later a given name.

The Catholic Encyclopedia records that Francis Xavier was born in the Castle of Xavier, near Sanguesa in Navarre, on 7 April 1506. His surname, in Behind the Name's words, "has since been adopted as a given name in his honour, chiefly among Catholics."

Xavier is therefore a Christian name through the saint who carried it, while the word itself describes a house. That saint sailed for India in 1541, landed at Goa on 6 May 1542, and reached Kagoshima in Japan on 15 August 1549.

Is Felix in the Bible, and was he a good man?

Felix is in the Bible as the governor to whom Paul is taken in Acts 23:24, and Acts does not present him as a good man. In Acts 24:24-25 he and his wife Drusilla, "who was Jewish," hear Paul speak about faith in Christ Jesus, and when Paul turns to justice, self-control and the coming judgment, Felix "became frightened" and sends him away.

Acts 24:26 adds that Felix "hoped that money would be given him by Paul" and sent for him often for that reason. When Porcius Festus succeeded him two years later, Felix "left Paul in prison" because he wanted to grant the Jews a favor (24:27).

Festus, the second F name in the account, inherits the case. He offers Paul a trial in Jerusalem, "wishing to do the Jews a favor," and after Paul appeals to the emperor he rules, "to the emperor you will go" (Acts 25:9-12).

While Paul is making his defense in Acts 26:24, Festus interrupts: "You are out of your mind, Paul!" Acts presents neither governor as a believer.

The Christian use of Felix has a different source. Behind the Name derives Felix from a Roman cognomen meaning "lucky, successful" and says that, due to that favourable meaning, the name was popular among early Christians and was borne by many early saints and four popes.

Lists that credit the Felix saints with "Holy Bible mentions" merge the governor of Acts 24 with the saints and popes who later took the same Roman name.

Who was Fortunatus in 1 Corinthians 16?

Fortunatus is one of three men whose visit Paul welcomes at the end of 1 Corinthians. "I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus," Paul writes in 16:17, "because they have made up for your absence."

In 16:18 he adds that "they refreshed my spirit as well as yours" and asks the church to "give recognition to such persons." The passage tells nothing else about Fortunatus, so Paul's thanks for his visit is the whole of his record here.

Fabian, Fidelis and Florian: a dove, a Capuchin name, a patron of two lands

Fabian was pope from 236 to 250. The Catholic Encyclopedia cites Eusebius (Church History VI.29) for the story of his election: while several noble candidates were being considered, "a dove suddenly descended upon the head of Fabian, of whom no one had even thought."

That account from Eusebius is what lies behind lists that call Fabian "divinely chosen." He died a martyr on 20 January 250 at the start of the Decian persecution, and a Greek epitaph reading "Fabian, bishop and martyr" was found in the catacomb of St. Callistus in 1850.

Fidelis is a name taken on entering religious life. Born at Sigmaringen in 1577 as the son of the burgomaster Johannes Rey, he earned a doctorate in law in 1611 and, on joining the Capuchins at Freiburg, took "the name of Fidelis."

He was killed at Sevis on 24 April 1622 while leading a Catholic mission in the Grisons. The Catholic Encyclopedia calls him the first martyr of the Congregation of Propaganda, and he was canonized in 1745.

Florian has the thinnest record of the three. Behind the Name derives it from the Roman cognomen Florianus, from Florus, and names Saint Florian as a 3rd-century martyr and the patron saint of Poland and Upper Austria.