Idelle
Feminine name of ancient Greek origin meaning "beautiful" or "attractive".
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Idelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Idelle today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Idelle births was 1921 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Idelle. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Idelle is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Idelles were born before 1962.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1921
36 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1978 SSA rank
#8,924
Tracked since 1895
Census
Idelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 249 people with the first name Idelle, which placed it at #33,298 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
#33,298
National first-name rank
People counted
249
249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Idelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Idelle is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Idelle 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 Idelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 156
- Black or African American20.1% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino8.0% · 20
- Two or more races4.0% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 5
Popularity
Idelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Idelle from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 196 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Idelle 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 Idelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Idelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Georgia, Illinois, Alabama recorded the most babies named Idelle, while South Carolina, Alabama, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Idelle
The name Idelle has its origins in the French language and is derived from the Germanic name Ida, which means "worker" or "prosperous one." The name was popular in medieval France and is believed to have emerged around the 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Idelle can be found in the records of the Benedictine Abbey of Fontevraud in Anjou, France, where a nun named Idelle is mentioned in the 13th century. This suggests that the name was in use among the religious communities of the time.
Idelle does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, but its Germanic root, Ida, has been linked to the mythology of the Norse goddess Idun, who was associated with youth and immortality.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity among the French nobility. One notable bearer of the name was Idelle de Riberac (1525-1590), a French noblewoman and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine de' Medici.
In the 17th century, Idelle Descartes (1637-1706) was a French philosopher and mathematician, known for her work in Cartesian philosophy and her correspondence with prominent thinkers of the time, such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
Another famous Idelle was Idelle de Grandville (1792-1872), a French artist and illustrator renowned for her intricate etchings and caricatures, often depicting satirical scenes of Parisian life.
In the 19th century, Idelle Bâcler d'Albe (1810-1876) was a French army officer and cartographer who served in the Napoleonic Wars and is known for his detailed maps of Europe and North Africa.
Idelle Pissarro (1828-1903) was a French Impressionist painter and the only daughter of the renowned artist Camille Pissarro. She was an accomplished artist in her own right and is known for her vibrant landscapes and still-life paintings.
People
Idelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Idelle 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
Idelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Idelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Idelle 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Idelle a common name?
We classify Idelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 750 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Idelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Idelle was 1921, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Idelle is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Idelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 249 people with the name Idelle, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,298 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 Idelle 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 Idelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Idelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 248 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Idelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Idelle is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (20.1%) and Hispanic (8.0%). 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 Idelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Idelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (156 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 Idelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Idelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Idelle 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 Idelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Idelle 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 Idelle 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 common is the name Idelle?
See how many Americans are named Idelle on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.