Iona
Iona was given to 65 girls in 2025, #2,667 among girls’ names; 12,261 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,300 Americans named Iona and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (27% of everyone recorded); the median is 56 years old and half are between 14 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Iona by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Iona mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Iona is “a female given name transferred from the place name, of mostly Scottish usage.”
Probably a misreading of Latin Ioua, an attempt to Latinize Old Irish Í.
/aɪˈoʊnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Iona?
#2,667 among girls’ names, 2025
Iona rose from #2,724 in 2015 to #2,667 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 36.4 to 40.4 per million.
404 babies in 1918, the peak
Iona peaked in 1918, when 404 girls were given it, #318 among girls’ names. The 65 births of 2025 are 16% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 65 | #2,667 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 61 | #2,786 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 56 | #2,994 | 0.03 |
| 2022 | 76 | #2,416 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 66 | #2,618 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 52 | #3,074 | 0.03 |
| 2019 | 73 | #2,441 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 68 | #2,571 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 49 | #3,271 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 59 | #2,878 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 65 | #2,724 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 59 | #2,899 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 45 | #3,489 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 42 | #3,740 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 39 | #3,869 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 44 | #3,590 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 36 | #4,221 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 30 | #4,939 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 33 | #4,505 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 39 | #3,878 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 28 | #4,749 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 35 | #4,031 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 23 | #5,294 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 22 | #5,327 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 33 | #3,890 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 26 | #4,573 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 20 | #5,298 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 17 | #5,889 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 23 | #4,565 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,387 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 5 | #14,263 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #9,093 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 15 | #6,067 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 10 | #8,299 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 9 | #8,853 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,576 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,284 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,406 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 12 | #6,055 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 15 | #5,041 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,164 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 15 | #4,811 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 21 | #3,726 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,784 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 12 | #5,678 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 15 | #4,811 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 14 | #4,920 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 21 | #3,548 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 17 | #4,119 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 18 | #3,724 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 19 | #3,551 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 21 | #3,243 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 26 | #2,706 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 18 | #3,444 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 20 | #3,300 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 24 | #2,881 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 19 | #3,135 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 17 | #3,224 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 37 | #1,930 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 20 | #2,791 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 26 | #2,367 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 33 | #2,081 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 30 | #2,180 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 31 | #2,130 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 40 | #1,818 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 37 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 57 | #1,423 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 45 | #1,594 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 34 | #1,881 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 57 | #1,387 | 0.03 |
| 1955 | 71 | #1,189 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 68 | #1,215 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 58 | #1,281 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 67 | #1,163 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 82 | #1,028 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 71 | #1,094 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 65 | #1,126 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 75 | #1,013 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 71 | #1,055 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 95 | #848 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 80 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1944 | 94 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1943 | 109 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 112 | #704 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 89 | #762 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 97 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1939 | 147 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1938 | 128 | #605 | 0.12 |
| 1937 | 123 | #607 | 0.12 |
| 1936 | 162 | #515 | 0.16 |
| 1935 | 162 | #499 | 0.15 |
| 1934 | 178 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1933 | 186 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1932 | 194 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1931 | 235 | #422 | 0.22 |
| 1930 | 232 | #443 | 0.21 |
| 1929 | 279 | #398 | 0.25 |
| 1928 | 275 | #409 | 0.24 |
| 1927 | 300 | #398 | 0.25 |
| 1926 | 263 | #423 | 0.22 |
| 1925 | 294 | #399 | 0.24 |
| 1924 | 332 | #374 | 0.27 |
| 1923 | 343 | #356 | 0.28 |
| 1922 | 331 | #364 | 0.28 |
| 1921 | 360 | #345 | 0.29 |
| 1920 | 374 | #338 | 0.31 |
| 1919 | 352 | #342 | 0.31 |
| 1918 | 404 | #318 | 0.35 |
| 1917 | 330 | #346 | 0.31 |
| 1916 | 320 | #344 | 0.31 |
| 1915 | 270 | #364 | 0.27 |
| 1914 | 164 | #415 | 0.22 |
| 1913 | 147 | #407 | 0.24 |
| 1912 | 141 | #390 | 0.25 |
| 1911 | 110 | #386 | 0.26 |
| 1910 | 124 | #356 | 0.31 |
| 1909 | 101 | #363 | 0.29 |
| 1908 | 101 | #358 | 0.30 |
| 1907 | 93 | #366 | 0.29 |
| 1906 | 83 | #375 | 0.28 |
| 1905 | 88 | #359 | 0.30 |
| 1904 | 90 | #344 | 0.33 |
| 1903 | 73 | #373 | 0.28 |
| 1902 | 62 | #395 | 0.23 |
| 1901 | 64 | #372 | 0.27 |
| 1900 | 83 | #370 | 0.28 |
| 1899 | 39 | #474 | 0.17 |
| 1898 | 52 | #428 | 0.20 |
| 1897 | 57 | #385 | 0.24 |
| 1896 | 56 | #378 | 0.24 |
| 1895 | 50 | #400 | 0.21 |
| 1894 | 48 | #404 | 0.22 |
| 1893 | 44 | #405 | 0.21 |
| 1892 | 44 | #403 | 0.21 |
| 1891 | 28 | #488 | 0.15 |
| 1890 | 37 | #418 | 0.19 |
| 1889 | 37 | #400 | 0.21 |
| 1888 | 31 | #444 | 0.17 |
| 1887 | 22 | #479 | 0.15 |
| 1886 | 18 | #532 | 0.12 |
| 1885 | 23 | #442 | 0.17 |
| 1884 | 17 | #510 | 0.13 |
| 1883 | 18 | #454 | 0.16 |
| 1882 | 22 | #379 | 0.20 |
| 1881 | 18 | #400 | 0.20 |
| 1880 | 18 | #395 | 0.20 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Iona a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Iona has been given almost only to girls: 10 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Iona: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Iona, and how old are they?
3,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 27% of the 12,261 Americans ever recorded as Iona. The median Iona alive today is 56 years old; half are between 14 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 3,833 people named Iona (3,783 women and girls, 50 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,732 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 675 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 818 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 307 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 184 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 490 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 794 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Iona born?
The states with the most babies named Iona are Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania, with 21% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 487 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 487 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 441 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New York | 395 | #1,725 | 0.4× |
| Texas | 381 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Iowa | 318 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Louisiana | 315 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Missouri | 308 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Kentucky | 279 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Indiana | 267 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Iona is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Iona is most over-represented in Nebraska: since 1910 it was given 1.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Iona with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 65,940 babies since 1880, Iona is the second most given (19% of them). In 2025 it was given to 65 of their 279 babies (23%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Iona
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Iona and names like it
- Compare Iona and InaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sIona peaked in 1918.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Iona since 1910.
- From place namesWiktionary’s origin for Iona: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Iona.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Iona alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with IMost given first.