Ilyse
A feminine variation of the French and English name Elise, meaning consecrated or vowed to God.
Name Census estimates that about 339 living Americans carry the first name Ilyse. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ilyse today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilyse births was 1969 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilyse. 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.
People living today
339
~ 1 in 1,011,075 Americans
Peak year
1969
17 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,625
Tracked since 1952
Census
Ilyse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415 people with the first name Ilyse, which placed it at #23,539 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
#23,539
National first-name rank
People counted
415
415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilyse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilyse is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Black (4.3%). 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 Ilyse 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 Ilyse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.5% · 359
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 25
- Black or African American4.3% · 18
- Two or more races2.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Ilyse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilyse from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 112 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilyse 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 Ilyse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilyses live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilyse
The name Ilyse is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, which means "God is my oath" or "God's promise." This name has its origins in ancient Jewish culture, dating back to biblical times.
Ilyse is a variant spelling of the name Elise, which is a French form of the name Elizabeth. The name Elizabeth itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, which was borne by the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses, in the Old Testament.
While the name Ilyse does not appear explicitly in ancient religious texts or historical records, its roots can be traced back to the biblical figure Elisheva, who is mentioned in the Book of Exodus.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ilyse can be found in the late 19th century, when it was used by French author and playwright Ilyse Dufresne, born in 1873. Another notable figure with this name was Ilyse Sierra, an American actress and model born in 1970.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ilyse or its variants. These include Ilyse Hogue (born 1970), an American activist and former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Ilyse Kurin (born 1952), an American lawyer and judge who served as the 46th Attorney General of Hawaii.
Another prominent figure with this name was Ilyse Betty Kukil (1939-2001), a Canadian literary executor and researcher who was instrumental in bringing the works of author Sylvia Plath to public attention.
Ilyse Renee Togue (born 1975) is an American television host and actress, best known for her work on the Travel Channel's "Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern."
While the name Ilyse may have origins in ancient Hebrew culture, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in Western countries, over the past century.
People
Ilyse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilyse 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
Ilyse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilyse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 339 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilyse 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 1,011,075 US residents.
Is Ilyse a common name?
We classify Ilyse as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 385 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilyse most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilyse was 1969, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilyse is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilyse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415 people with the name Ilyse, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,539 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 Ilyse 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 Ilyse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilyse appears almost entirely female. Of the 410 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ilyse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilyse is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Black (4.3%). 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 Ilyse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ilyse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (359 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 Ilyse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilyse a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilyse 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 Ilyse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilyse 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 Ilyse 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 common is the name Ilyse?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.