It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Theodor Robert Luther on October 5, 1855,[6] and named after Fides, the Roman goddess of loyalty.

Fides was the last of the main-belt asteroids to be assigned an iconic symbol,[7] a Latin cross U+271D ✝ ().

[2] Photometric observations of this asteroid at multiple observatories during 1981–82 gave an unusual light curve with three minima and maxima.

The composite light curve has a best fit period estimate of 7.33 hours.

[10] Austrian astronomer Hans Josef Schober has suggested that the multiple minima and maxima during each period may be an indication of a binary nature.