Icela
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "ice maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 161 living Americans carry the first name Icela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Icela today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Icela births was 1995 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Icela. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
161
~ 1 in 2,128,909 Americans
Peak year
1995
14 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,078
Tracked since 1970
Census
Icela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 417 people with the first name Icela, which placed it at #23,447 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#23,447
National first-name rank
People counted
417
417 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
96.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Icela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Icela is Hispanic at 96.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Black (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Icela described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Icela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino96.2% · 401
- White2.2% · 9
- Black or African American1.4% · 6
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Popularity
Icela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Icela from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 64 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Icela by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Icela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Icelas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Icela
The name Icela has its origins in the ancient Greek language and is derived from the word "ikelos," which means "similar" or "resembling." It is believed to have first emerged during the Hellenistic period in the 3rd century BC.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Icela can be found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Plutarch, who mentions a woman named Icela in his book "Parallel Lives." This text, written in the 1st century AD, suggests that the name was in use during the early days of the Roman Empire.
In the 5th century AD, a notable figure named Icela is mentioned in the writings of the Byzantine scholar and historian Procopius of Caesarea. Procopius refers to Icela as a noblewoman who played a role in the political intrigues of the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I.
During the Middle Ages, the name Icela appears to have been adopted by some members of the Byzantine aristocracy. A notable example is Icela of Constantinople, who lived in the 12th century and was a member of the Doukas family, one of the most prominent noble houses of the Byzantine Empire.
In the Renaissance period, the name Icela gained some popularity in Italy. One notable figure was Icela Visconti, a noblewoman from Milan who lived in the 15th century and was known for her patronage of the arts and her involvement in the cultural and political life of the Italian city-states.
Another prominent individual with the name Icela was Icela Riario, an Italian noblewoman who lived in the 15th century and was a member of the powerful Riario family. She was known for her influential role in the politics of the Papal States and her patronage of artists and scholars during the Renaissance.
While the name Icela has ancient roots and has been used throughout history, it is important to note that it has never been a widely popular name, and its usage has been relatively rare compared to other names of Greek or Latin origin.
People
Icela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Icela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Icela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Icela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Icela going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,128,909 US residents.
Is Icela a common name?
We classify Icela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 166 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Icela most popular?
The single biggest year for Icela was 1995, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Icela is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Icela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 417 people with the name Icela, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,447 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Icela in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Icela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Icela leans strongly female. 420 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Icela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Icela is Hispanic at 96.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Black (1.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Icela most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Icela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.2% (401 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Icela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Icela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Icela in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Icela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Icela in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Icela can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Icela as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.