Italy
A feminine name derived from the Latin "Italia", referring to the country.
Name Census estimates that about 2,088 living Americans carry the first name Italy. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Italy today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Italy births was 2021 (132 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Italy. 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
- • Italy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 164,154 Americans
Peak year
2021
132 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2023 SSA rank
#1,730
Tracked since 1918
Gender
Gender distribution for Italy
Out of the 2,123 babies given the name Italy since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Italy as a male name
- Ranked #12,963 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1922 (5 births)
Italy as a female name
- Ranked #1,730 in 2024
- 117 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (132 births)
Popularity
Italy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Italy from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 945 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Italy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Italy 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 Italy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Italys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Italy, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Italy
The given name Italy is a relatively modern name derived from the country name of Italy. It does not have a long historical tradition as a personal name and is not derived from ancient roots or languages.
The name Italy itself comes from the Latin word "Italia", which originally referred to the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The etymology of this Latin word is uncertain, but it may be related to the Greek word "Italos", which was used to refer to people living in that region.
The earliest recorded use of Italy as a personal name is relatively recent, dating back to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is likely that the name was inspired by the growing sense of Italian national identity and patriotism during this period.
One of the earliest known people with the given name Italy was Italy Smith (1892-1985), an American painter and sculptor from Pennsylvania. She was known for her landscape paintings and sculptures depicting rural scenes.
Another notable person with the name Italy was Italy Anita Simmons (1904-1995), an American artist and educator from Tennessee. She was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance and taught art at several historically Black colleges and universities.
In the world of literature, Italy Compton (1904-1939) was an American writer and novelist from California. She is best known for her novel "The Green Pastures", which explored themes of religion and race in the American South.
In the field of music, Italy Smith (1923-2014) was an American blues singer and songwriter from Arkansas. She was known for her powerful voice and her contributions to the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s.
More recently, Italy Royster (born 1990) is an American professional basketball player who has played in the WNBA and overseas. She was born in Georgia and played college basketball at the University of North Carolina.
While the name Italy is not a common given name, it has been used by a variety of individuals throughout the 20th century, particularly in the United States. It reflects the cultural and artistic influence of Italy and the Italian-American experience.
People
Italy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Italy 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
Italy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Italy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,088 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Italy 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 164,154 US residents.
Is Italy a common name?
We classify Italy as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,123 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Italy most popular?
The single biggest year for Italy was 2021, when 132 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Italy is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Italy a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Italy 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.
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.