Due to his passive but well-intentioned character, he gained the sobriquet The Benign (German: Der Gütige) or The Benevolent (Czech: Ferdinand Dobrotivý, Polish: Ferdynand Dobrotliwy).

He was incapable of ruling the empire because of severe epilepsy, so his father, before he died, made a will promulgating that Ferdinand should consult his uncle Archduke Louis on all aspects of internal policy and urged him to be influenced by Prince Metternich, Austria's Foreign Minister.

Ferdinand was the eldest son of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily.

Possibly as a result of his parents' genetic closeness (they were double first cousins), Ferdinand had hydrocephalus, neurological problems including epilepsy, and a speech impediment.

Though he was not declared incapacitated, a Regent's Council (Archduke Louis, Count Kolowrat, and Prince Metternich) steered the government.

He was convinced by Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg to abdicate in favour of his nephew, Franz Joseph (the next in line was Ferdinand's younger brother Franz Karl, but he was persuaded by his wife Sophie to renounce his succession rights in favour of his son) who would occupy the Austrian throne for the next 68 years.

; Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friaul, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trento and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia, Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.

Further back in his ancestry there is more pedigree collapse due to the close intermarriage between the Houses of Austria and Spain and other Catholic monarchies.