Ida

What Ida means

Means “work”

Short form of obsolete names beginning with Germanic īd "work", used for both sexes in medieval England.

Source: Wiktionary, “Ida” (revision 94510049), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ida?

US: Rising: up from #1416 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #361 in 2015, #342 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1880, when 1,472 girls got the name (#7 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 7,690 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,010 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,556 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in MN (0.74 per 1,000 girls), IA (0.51 per 1,000 girls), WI (0.49 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Ida is #1120 in the US and #342 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Ida were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ada1,401 US · 1,014 E&W
• Ayda74 US · 165 E&W
• Aida154 US · 84 E&W
• Adah110 US · 10 E&W
• Idy46 US
• Eda22 US · 18 E&W
• Ita25 US · 6 E&W
• Adi17 US · 7 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ida

Girls

• Louisa#694Form of Louis, meaning “loud; famous + battle”^*
• Kali#323Editor’s note Down from #267 in 2015 to #323 in 2025 in the US
• Amalia#566“vigor, bravery”^*
• Alice#65“noble + character”^*
• Astrid#376Danish, from Old Norse Ástríðr, meaning “god + beautiful, originally…^*
• Zelda#832Editor’s note Down from #648 in 2015 to #832 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Otis#652Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #71 vs #652 in 2025
• Warren#240“river, water”^*
• Conrad#417“bold, brave + counsel”^*
• Roland#607“fame-land”^*
• Bo#449Swedish, from Old Norse Búi, meaning “dweller, long-time resident”^*
• Archie#301“anti-aircraft artillery”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, Sanskrit & Indian, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ida’s. Rank is US 2025.