Humanverse

Ivar vs Ivars

American parents have registered 1,468 Ivars since 1880, against 28 Ivarses. Ivar is still ahead, with 133 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Ivar against Ivars, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Ivar Ivars

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 81 years in which either name was published, Ivar for 78 years and Ivars for 3 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Ivar Ivars
Total US births 1,46828
Most in one year 13311
Babies in 2025 133under 5
Estimated living today 1,10020
Median age today 466
Peak year 20251954
Best rank 1,382nd boys2,449th boys
Rank in 2025 1,382ndunranked
First recorded 18961954
Girls / boys 0 / 1,4680 / 28

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Ivarses alive today are over 66; half the Ivars are over 4. That is 62 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Ivar and Ivars.