Ijeoma
A feminine name of Igbo (Nigerian) origin meaning "safe journey".
Name Census estimates that about 471 living Americans carry the first name Ijeoma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ijeoma today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ijeoma births was 1980 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ijeoma. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ijeoma with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
471
~ 1 in 727,716 Americans
Peak year
1980
20 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,773
Tracked since 1967
Census
Ijeoma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,173 people with the first name Ijeoma, which placed it at #11,087 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,087
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ijeoma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ijeoma is Black at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.4%) and White (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ijeoma described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ijeoma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American96.8% · 1,136
- Two or more races1.4% · 16
- White0.8% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Ijeoma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ijeoma from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 135 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Ijeoma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ijeoma by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ijeoma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ijeomas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ijeoma
The name Ijeoma has its origins in the Igbo language of southeastern Nigeria. It is a combination of two Igbo words: "ije" meaning "journey" and "oma" meaning "good" or "beautiful." The name can be translated to mean "a journey is good" or "a safe and beautiful journey."
Ijeoma is a name that has been in use among the Igbo people for centuries, with records of its use dating back to the 15th century. The name was often given to children as a way of wishing them a safe and prosperous journey through life.
In Igbo culture, names carry significant meaning and are carefully chosen to reflect the hopes and aspirations of the parents for their child. Ijeoma was a popular name for girls, as it embodied the desire for a life filled with positivity, success, and blessings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ijeoma appears in the book "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano" written by Olaudah Equiano, a former slave who became a prominent abolitionist in the late 18th century. In the book, Equiano mentions an Igbo woman named Ijeoma who played a significant role in his early life.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ijeoma:
1. Ijeoma Nwogwugwu (born 1965) - A Nigerian writer and academic known for her work on African literature and gender studies.
2. Ijeoma Oluo (born 1980) - An American writer and speaker, best known for her book "So You Want to Talk About Race."
3. Ijeoma Umebinyuo (1941-2021) - A Nigerian poet, playwright, and academic who was a pioneer in the field of African literature.
4. Ijeoma Nwogu (born 1970) - A Nigerian women's rights activist and former government official.
5. Ijeoma Ene (born 1982) - A Nigerian-American author and entrepreneur known for her work in promoting diversity and inclusion in the technology industry.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals who have carried the name Ijeoma throughout history, each making their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo people and beyond.
People
Ijeoma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ijeoma as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ijeoma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ijeoma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 471 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ijeoma going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 727,716 US residents.
Is Ijeoma a common name?
We classify Ijeoma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 491 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ijeoma most popular?
The single biggest year for Ijeoma was 1980, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ijeoma is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ijeoma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,173 people with the name Ijeoma, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,087 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ijeoma in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ijeoma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ijeoma leans strongly female. 1,155 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 26 male bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ijeoma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ijeoma is Black at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.4%) and White (0.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ijeoma most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ijeoma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (1,136 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ijeoma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ijeoma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ijeoma in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Ijeoma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ijeoma in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ijeoma can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Ijeoma?
You can see how many people share the name Ijeoma on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.