Ione
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "violet flower".
Name Census estimates that about 1,510 living Americans carry the first name Ione. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ione today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ione births was 1920 (367 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ione. 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 Ione with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 226,990 Americans
Peak year
1920
367 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,114
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ione in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,492 people with the first name Ione, which placed it at #6,435 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
#6,435
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,492 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ione
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ione is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Ione 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 Ione at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.0% · 1,945
- Black or African American8.5% · 211
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 124
- Two or more races4.4% · 110
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 60
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 42
Popularity
Ione: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ione from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,677 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ione 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 Ione during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Iones live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa recorded the most babies named Ione, while North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 176 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ione
The name Ione has its origins in Greek mythology and language. It is derived from the Greek word "ion," meaning "violet flower." The name was initially associated with the violet-colored flower and its symbolic connection to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
In ancient Greek mythology, Ione was a nymph who was one of the many lovers of the god Zeus. According to the tales, she gave birth to his sons Epaphus and Bythis. The name Ione is mentioned in various ancient Greek texts, including works by Homer and Pindar.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ione was Ione of Chios, a Greek poet and philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC. She was renowned for her lyric poetry and is considered one of the earliest female philosophers in ancient Greece.
Another notable Ione was Ione of Thessaly, a priestess of the cult of Dionysus in the 4th century BC. She was renowned for her spiritual leadership and her role in the Dionysian mysteries.
During the Renaissance period, the name Ione gained popularity among the literary and artistic circles. One famous bearer of the name was Ione d'Este, an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, who lived in the 15th century.
In the 19th century, the name Ione was popularized in English literature. One of the most prominent examples is the character Ione in Percy Bysshe Shelley's lyrical drama "Prometheus Unbound," published in 1820.
Another notable Ione was Ione Skye, an American actress born in 1970. She gained recognition for her roles in films such as "Say Anything" and "Gas Food Lodging."
Throughout history, the name Ione has been associated with elegance, grace, and a connection to nature and mythology. Its Greek origins and symbolic ties to the violet flower have contributed to its enduring appeal as a feminine and poetic name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ione
People
Ione + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ione 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
Ione: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ione?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,510 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ione 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 226,990 US residents.
Is Ione a common name?
We classify Ione as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,989 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ione most popular?
The single biggest year for Ione was 1920, when 367 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ione is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ione in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,492 people with the name Ione, or 0.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,435 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 Ione 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 Ione?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ione leans strongly female. 2,468 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 30 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Ione?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ione is White at 78.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Ione most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ione in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.0% (1,945 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 Ione in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ione a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ione 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 Ione still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ione 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 Ione 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 Americans are named Ione?
See how many people have the name Ione on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.