Ivory
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Meaning
from the material ivory
The story
Ivory is the word itself, precious, smooth and pale, and its record is one of the ledger's longest quiet residencies: real use every decade since the 1890s, a century between about 190 and 2,000, shared between sons and daughters the whole way, about 14,500 girls to 8,500 boys all-time. Then the modern turn changed its shape: about 3,900 in the 2010s and 4,000 so far this decade, and the split has moved decisively, 3,800 girls to 190 boys this decade. A century of quiet sharing, then a generation that heard it as a daughter's name: the record states the shift plainly and does not guess at reasons, which is the ledger's way. A material the law now protects, a word the piano keeps, and a name the record has carried for a hundred and thirty years without ever putting it down.
How popular is Ivory around the world?
In the United States, 3,989 babies were named Ivory between 2020 and 2025.
Ivory is on the official records of the United States, New Zealand, South Australia, Canada, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 5,500
In the United States, 3,989 babies were named Ivory between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ivory peaked in the 2020s. In US birth records, Ivory went mostly to boys before the 1980s and mostly to girls in every decade since. In US birth records Ivory has stayed between 1,125 and 3,989 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
New Zealand
1 in 5,800
In New Zealand, 10 girls named Ivory were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
South Australia
1 in 6,1002017
In South Australia, 3 girls were registered as Ivory in 2017.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Canada
1 in 12,000
In Canada, 30 girls named Ivory were born in 2024, the 913th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 53,000
In England and Wales, 11 girls named Ivory were born in 2025, ranked 2,440th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Austria
last on record 2022
Ivory is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 30 people in Brazil were named Ivory, ranked 94,398th, with a median age of 50.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
last on record 1994
Ivory is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Scotland
last on record 2021
Ivory is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
Names like Ivory · Gender-neutral names · Names that switched sides · Familiar but never popular
The Ivory deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ivory truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ivory fits with your family’s names and surname.
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