Ignatius
Of Latin origin, meaning "ardent" or "fiery one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,916 living Americans carry the first name Ignatius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ignatius today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ignatius births was 1920 (97 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ignatius. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ignatius with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,891 Americans
Peak year
1920
97 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,734
Tracked since 1885
Census
Ignatius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,063 people with the first name Ignatius, which placed it at #7,411 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
#7,411
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,063 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ignatius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ignatius is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.1%). 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 Ignatius 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 Ignatius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.1% · 1,074
- Black or African American22.8% · 471
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.1% · 250
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 156
- Two or more races4.4% · 90
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 22
Popularity
Ignatius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ignatius from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 737 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Ignatius remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ignatius 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 Ignatius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ignatius' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Ignatius, while Nebraska, Maryland, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ignatius
The name Ignatius originated from the Roman family name Egnatius, which itself was derived from the word ignis, meaning "fire" in Latin. It became a commonly used name among early Christians in the 1st century AD, as it was adopted by St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church, who was born around 35 AD and martyred in Rome sometime between 98 and 117 AD.
The name Ignatius gained significant prominence in Christianity due to St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Spanish priest and theologian who founded the religious order of the Jesuits in 1534. He was born in 1491 and died in 1556. His legacy as a prominent figure in the Counter-Reformation movement helped popularize the name across Europe.
Another notable figure named Ignatius was Ignatius of Constantinople, who served as the Patriarch of Constantinople from 847 to 858 AD. He played a crucial role in the ongoing debates surrounding iconoclasm, a movement that rejected the veneration of religious images, and was a staunch defender of the use of icons in Christian worship.
In the 17th century, Ignatius Sancho, an African man born into slavery, became a prominent figure in London's literary circles. He was born around 1729 and died in 1780. Sancho's letters, published after his death, provided a unique perspective on the experiences of Black people in 18th-century Britain.
Ignatius Donnelly, an American author, and politician, is remembered for his influential work on the pseudoscientific theory of Atlantis. He was born in 1831 and died in 1901. Donnelly's book "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World" (1882) contributed to the widespread popularity of the idea of a lost civilization in the Atlantic Ocean.
While the name Ignatius has its roots in ancient Rome and early Christianity, it has been used across various cultures and time periods, with notable figures bearing this name throughout history, contributing to its enduring legacy.
People
Ignatius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ignatius 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
Ignatius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ignatius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,916 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ignatius 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 178,891 US residents.
Is Ignatius a common name?
We classify Ignatius as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,975 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ignatius most popular?
The single biggest year for Ignatius was 1920, when 97 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ignatius is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ignatius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,063 people with the name Ignatius, or 0.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,411 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 Ignatius 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 Ignatius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ignatius appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,074 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ignatius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ignatius is White at 52.1%. The next largest groups are Black (22.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.1%). 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 Ignatius most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ignatius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.1% (1,074 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 Ignatius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ignatius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ignatius in the SSA data are male. 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 Ignatius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ignatius 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 Ignatius 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 Americans are named Ignatius?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.