Ilo
A masculine Hawaiian name meaning "winner, victor, or dog".
Name Census estimates that about 90 living Americans carry the first name Ilo. It is a predominantly female name (92.7% of registrations). The average person named Ilo today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilo births was 1921 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilo. 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 Ilo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ilo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
90
~ 1 in 3,808,382 Americans
Peak year
1921
33 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,967
Tracked since 1888
Census
Ilo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 261 people with the first name Ilo, which placed it at #32,310 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
#32,310
National first-name rank
People counted
261
261 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilo is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Ilo 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 Ilo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.5% · 205
- Black or African American10.3% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 11
- Two or more races3.8% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ilo
Ilo leans heavily female at 92.7% of total registrations, but 56 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ilo as a male name
- Ranked #6,967 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (12 births)
Ilo as a female name
- Ranked #12,624 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1921 (33 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ilo on both sides of the split. Of the 259 people counted with this name, 101 were male (39.0%) and 158 were female (61.0%).
Popularity
Ilo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 212 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilo 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 Ilo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Ohio, Iowa, Indiana recorded the most babies named Ilo, while Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilo
The name Ilo is believed to have its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is thought to be derived from the Hawaiian word 'ilo', which means 'to see' or 'to know'. The name is associated with wisdom, knowledge, and insight.
Ilo is a relatively uncommon name, but it has been recorded throughout history. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in Hawaiian legends and folklore, where it was sometimes used as a name for characters or deities associated with the natural world and the elements.
In terms of notable historical figures bearing the name Ilo, there are a few individuals worth mentioning. Ilo Browne was a Hawaiian educator and activist who lived from 1888 to 1976. She played a significant role in promoting and preserving the Hawaiian language and culture.
Another individual named Ilo was Ilo Condit, an American artist and illustrator who lived from 1857 to 1938. He was known for his illustrations of Native American life and his work in various publications.
Ilo Lopatin was a Russian-American artist and sculptor who lived from 1888 to 1970. He was recognized for his sculptures and public works, including the sculptures on the Los Angeles County Courthouse.
Ilo Kruger was a South African writer and poet who lived from 1924 to 2004. She was known for her poetry collections and her contributions to Afrikaans literature.
Ilo Balon was a Filipino artist and sculptor who lived from 1937 to 2021. He was celebrated for his abstract sculptures and his influence on modern Filipino art.
While the name Ilo is relatively rare, it carries a rich cultural heritage and has been associated with individuals from various fields throughout history, including education, art, literature, and activism.
People
Ilo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilo 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
Ilo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 90 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilo 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 3,808,382 US residents.
Is Ilo a common name?
We classify Ilo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 768 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilo most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilo was 1921, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilo is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 261 people with the name Ilo, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,310 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 Ilo 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 Ilo?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ilo on both sides of the split. Of the 259 people counted with this name, 101 were male (39.0%) and 158 were female (61.0%). 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 Ilo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilo is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Ilo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ilo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (205 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 Ilo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilo a female name?
Yes, 92.7% of people registered as Ilo 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 Ilo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilo 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 Ilo 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 share the name Ilo?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.