Girls' name · peaked in 1897
Iva name popularity since 1925
17,459 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Iva (98.3% girls, 1.7% boys). Half of them were born in 1940 or earlier, so the typical Iva is about 86 years old in 2026. Iva peaked in 1897 as the #114 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 17,459
- Named Iva, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1897
- #114 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,740 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.3% girls
- 17,169 girls · 290 boys
- Most popular in
- Arkansas
- 4.37× its national share
Peak year is the year Iva made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Iva births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Iva peaked earlier, in 1897.
- Steepest fall: Between 1939 and 1944, Iva's share of baby girls fell by 46%, from 1 in 2,780 to 1 in 5,160.
Shaded on the chart. This compares Iva's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Iva.
Decade by decade
Babies named Iva in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 3,434 | 72 | – |
| 1930s | 4,793 | 97 | #283 |
| 1940s | 2,807 | 45 | #447 |
| 1950s | 1,900 | 53 | #675 |
| 1960s | 979 | 12 | #1,138 |
| 1970s | 576 | 6 | #1,611 |
| 1980s | 368 | 5 | #2,966 |
| 1990s | 308 | 0 | #4,265 |
| 2000s | 449 | 0 | #2,980 |
| 2010s | 910 | 0 | #1,975 |
| 2020–25 | 645 | 0 | #1,740 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
46.2% of babies named Iva from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Iva is most popular
The index compares Iva's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Iva.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 4.37× | 592 |
| Oklahoma | 4.13× | 709 |
| West Virginia | 4.11× | 476 |
| Kentucky | 3.76× | 829 |
| Tennessee | 3.69× | 1,024 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Iva's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Iva.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Iva (1897).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data