Ivy
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Meaning
ivy plant
The story
Ivy earns its story by staying literal. The name comes from the English word for the climbing plant, descended from Old English ifig. Common ivy does not stand upright on its own. It is a vigorous, self-clinging climber, sending glossy evergreen leaves across its supports while offering food, shelter, and nest sites to wildlife. That physical habit gives the name motion without turning the plant into a personality lesson. Ivy also appears in an older human setting. A carol preserved in the fifteenth-century Windsor Carol-book pauses over ivy as fair and green, setting the familiar plant inside three voices on a manuscript page. The carol is not proof of an unbroken custom, and it is not the modern song sometimes associated with the name. It is simply a surviving moment when people looked at ivy and sang about what they saw. Plant, word, manuscript, and melody are enough.
Ivy in song
ivy
Taylor Swift (2020)
An evermore song built out of frost and creeping vines, and one of the album's most treasured deep cuts.
How popular is Ivy around the world?
In the United States, 28,691 babies were named Ivy between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 180 girls named Ivy were registered in 2024, the 14th most common name among girls that year.
Ivy is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, England and Wales, South Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, New South Wales, France, Austria, Poland, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Spain.
United States
1 in 760
In the United States, 28,691 babies were named Ivy between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ivy peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 250
In Scotland, 180 girls named Ivy were registered in 2024, the 14th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
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
England and Wales
1 in 340
In England and Wales, 1,698 girls named Ivy were born in 2025, the 9th most common name 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
South Australia
1 in 4002017
In South Australia, 46 girls were registered as Ivy in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
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
Ireland
1 in 570
In Ireland, 95 girls named Ivy were born in 2025, the 50th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
New Zealand
1 in 630
In New Zealand, 91 girls named Ivy 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
Canada
1 in 680
In Canada, 539 girls named Ivy were born in 2024, the 33rd 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)
New South Wales
#30 · 2025
In New South Wales, 172 girls named Ivy were registered in 2025, ranked 30th in that year’s top 100 for girls.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
France
1 in 4,200
In France, about 155 girls named Ivy were born in 2025, the 358th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Austria
1 in 5,900
In Austria, 13 girls named Ivy were born in 2025, the 381st most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
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)
Poland
1 in 41,000
In Poland, 6 girls named Ivy were born in 2025, the 427th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Brazil
1 in 56,000
At the 2022 census, 3,623 people in Brazil were named Ivy, ranked 3,419th, with a median age of 7.
Among people named Ivy living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 1,433 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. 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
Chile
1 in 59,000
In Chile, 3 girls were registered as Ivy in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Argentina
1 in 74,000
In Argentina, 9 newborns were given the name Ivy in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Spain
1 in 280,000
In Spain, 163 residents are named Ivy, ranked 5,236th among women, with a mean age of 19.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Mexico City City
last on record 2021
Ivy is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Montevideo City
last on record 2010
Ivy 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
Not on the record in Puerto Rico: that registry withholds small counts, so rare uses may sit below its floor.
Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Ivy
Most people given the name Ivy in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Ivy travels
Chinese American · the ivy plant; a modern ABC favorite prized for its clean, easy sound in both English and Mandarin
Dual-language · the ivy plant; a modern favorite precisely because it sounds clean and complete in both English and Mandarin, with none of the awkward vowel or consonant clashes that trip up other English picks
Keep exploring
Names like Ivy · Names that go with Ivy · Middle names for Ivy · Dual-language baby names · Chinese American baby names · Short names · Nickname-proof names
The Ivy deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ivy 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 Ivy fits with your family’s names and surname.
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