Ivy
From the English word for the woody vine of the same name.
Roughly 71,458 people in the United States go by the first name Ivy, which ranks #36 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly female name (95.7% of registrations). The average person named Ivy today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ivy births was 2024 (5,347 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Kristine (71,397).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ivy. 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 Ivy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ivy is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 3,453 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ivy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
71K
~ 1 in 4,797 Americans
Peak year
2024
5,347 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#36
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ivy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 50,096 people with the first name Ivy, which placed it at #899 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
#899
National first-name rank
People counted
50K
50,096 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
16.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ivy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ivy is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%). 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 Ivy 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 Ivy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.9% · 28,520
- Black or African American12.9% · 6,466
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.3% · 6,142
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 5,817
- Two or more races5.6% · 2,807
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 344
Gender
Gender distribution for Ivy
Ivy leans heavily female at 95.7% of total registrations, but 3,453 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ivy as a male name
- Ranked #4,344 in 2024
- 24 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1925 (69 births)
Ivy as a female name
- Ranked #36 in 2024
- 5,323 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (5,323 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ivy leans strongly female. 48,875 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 1,218 male bearers (2.4%).
Popularity
Ivy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ivy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 23,599 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ivy 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 Ivy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ivys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ivy, while Wyoming, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,410 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ivy
The name Ivy is derived from the English word "ivy," which refers to the evergreen climbing plant with green leaves. It has its roots in the Old English word "ifig" and the Old Norse word "ifiedunr," both of which mean "ivy." The name first appeared as a given name in the late 19th century.
The ivy plant has been a symbol of fidelity, fertility, and eternal life in various cultures throughout history. In ancient Greek mythology, ivy was associated with the god Dionysus, the god of wine, and was used to adorn the heads of his followers during festivals. The ivy was also a symbol of eternal life because of its evergreen nature.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ivy is Ivy Millicient Williams, an American actress born in 1915. She appeared in several films in the 1930s and 1940s, including "Killer at Large" and "The House of Fear."
Another notable person named Ivy is Ivy Compton-Burnett, a British novelist born in 1884 and died in 1969. She is known for her novels that explore the dynamics of upper-class English families, such as "Pastors and Masters" and "A House and Its Head."
Ivy Ledbetter Lee, born in 1877 and died in 1934, was an American publicist and one of the founders of modern public relations. He is credited with developing the concept of the press release and shaping the practice of public relations.
Ivy Robic, born in 1921 and died in 2017, was an American singer and actress. She was known for her recordings of popular songs in the 1940s and 1950s, including "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" and "Too Close for Comfort."
Ivy Baker Priest, born in 1905 and died in 1975, was an American politician and the 33rd Treasurer of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
People
Ivy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ivy 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
Ivy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ivy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 71,458 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ivy 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 4,797 US residents.
Is Ivy a common name?
We classify Ivy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 81,003 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ivy most popular?
The single biggest year for Ivy was 2024, when 5,347 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ivy is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ivy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 50,096 people with the name Ivy, or 16.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #899 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 Ivy 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 Ivy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ivy leans strongly female. 48,875 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 1,218 male bearers (2.4%). 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 Ivy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ivy is White at 56.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.3%). 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 Ivy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ivy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.9% (28,520 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 Ivy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ivy a female name?
Yes, 95.7% of people registered as Ivy 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 Ivy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ivy 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 Ivy 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 named Ivy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.