unisex name
Ivory
EYE-vuh-ree
- Origin English
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 3
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 23,695
the United States
#378
2025 births
Ivory is a unisex name taken from the material, whose word comes through French and Latin from an Egyptian word for elephant. It names a color as much as a substance now, and its use as a given name is largely American.
- Ivory is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 840 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,947 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Ivory over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 84 |
| 1890s | 187 |
| 1900s | 382 |
| 1910s | 936 |
| 1920s | 1,336 |
| 1930s | 1,225 |
| 1940s | 1,501 |
| 1950s | 2,040 |
| 1960s | 1,280 |
| 1970s | 1,125 |
| 1980s | 1,877 |
| 1990s | 1,660 |
| 2000s | 1,638 |
| 2010s | 3,854 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,989 |
What Ivory means
Ivory names elephant tusk, and the soft off-white color taken from it. Both senses are in play, and the color is generally the one families intend.
Where Ivory comes from
Ivory comes from the Old French ivurie and the Latin eboreus, from ebur, ivory — a word Latin took from Egyptian, where ab or abu meant both elephant and ivory. The material was traded across the Mediterranean world for millennia and carried enormous value, which is why the word travels so far. The color sense is later. As a given name Ivory appears in our records in every year from 1880 and was used across the American South in the early twentieth century for both boys and girls; it has risen again recently with the taste for color names.
Ivory in use
Ivory appears in our records from 1880 and reached its highest recorded use in 2025.
How popular is Ivory?
In 2025, Ivory was given to 840 babies in the United States, ranking #378 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Ivory is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Ivory
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Ivory also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Ivory over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Ivory
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Ivory in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Ivorie
Sibling names for Ivory
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Ivory — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Ivory
What does the name Ivory mean?
Elephant tusk, and the off-white color taken from it. The word reaches Latin from an Egyptian word for elephant.
Is Ivory a boy's or a girl's name?
Both. It was used for both across the American South in the early twentieth century and is now given more often to girls.
How do you pronounce Ivory?
EYE-vuh-ree, three syllables.
How popular is the name Ivory?
In 2025, Ivory was given to 840 babies in the United States, ranking #378 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
How many syllables are in Ivory?
Ivory has 3 syllables.
When was Ivory most popular?
Ivory peaked in 2025, when 840 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Ivory?
Ivory is usually shortened to Ivy.
Is Ivory a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Ivory currently ranks #378 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.