Ike
A diminutive of the name Isaac, meaning "he laughs" or "he rejoices" in Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 3,647 living Americans carry the first name Ike. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ike today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ike births was 1953 (111 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ike. 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 Ike with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.6K
~ 1 in 93,983 Americans
Peak year
1953
111 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,959
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ike in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,837 people with the first name Ike, which placed it at #4,737 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
#4,737
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,837 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ike
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ike is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.2%). 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 Ike 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 Ike at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.3% · 1,777
- Black or African American35.2% · 1,352
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.2% · 277
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 235
- Two or more races3.8% · 146
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 50
Popularity
Ike: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ike from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 721 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Ike remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ike 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 Ike during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ikes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Texas, Mississippi, Georgia recorded the most babies named Ike, while Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 98 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ike
The given name Ike has its origins in the Dutch language, derived from the name Isaac. Isaac traces its roots back to the Hebrew name Yitzchak, meaning "he will laugh" or "he laughs." This Biblical name is associated with the Patriarch Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, in the Old Testament.
Ike emerged as a diminutive or shortened form of Isaac, particularly in the Netherlands and other Dutch-speaking regions. It gained popularity as a standalone name during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ike can be found in the writings of Dutch author Nicolaas Beets, who used the name in his novel "Camera Obscura" published in 1839.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Ike, including:
1. Ike Eisenhower (1890-1969), the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, and a highly acclaimed military leader during World War II.
2. Ike Turner (1931-2007), an American musician and songwriter, known for his influential role in the development of rock and roll music alongside his former wife, Tina Turner.
3. Ike Barinholtz (born 1977), an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker, best known for his work on the television series "The Mindy Project" and films like "Neighbors" and "Blockers."
4. Ike Davis (born 1987), a former professional baseball player who played for the New York Mets and other Major League Baseball teams.
5. Ike Quartey (born 1969), a Ghanaian former professional boxer and former World Boxing Association (WBA) Welterweight Champion.
While the name Ike may have Dutch roots, it has transcended cultural boundaries and gained recognition worldwide, with various notable individuals bearing this moniker throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ike
People
Ike + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ike 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
Ike: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ike?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,647 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ike 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 93,983 US residents.
Is Ike a common name?
We classify Ike as "Rare". It ranks above 95.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,285 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ike most popular?
The single biggest year for Ike was 1953, when 111 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ike is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ike in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,837 people with the name Ike, or 1.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,737 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 Ike 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 Ike?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ike leans strongly male. 3,789 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 50 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Ike?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ike is White at 46.3%. The next largest groups are Black (35.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.2%). 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 Ike most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ike in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (1,777 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 Ike in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ike a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ike 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 Ike still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ike 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 Ike 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 Ike?
See how many people share the name Ike on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.