Ivana
A feminine name of Slavic origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 7,617 living Americans carry the first name Ivana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ivana today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ivana births was 2010 (266 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ivana. 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.
People living today
7.6K
~ 1 in 44,999 Americans
Peak year
2010
266 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,088
Tracked since 1943
Popularity
Ivana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ivana from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,020 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ivana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ivana 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 Ivana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ivanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ivana, while Utah, Alabama, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 207 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ivana
The name Ivana is a feminine form of the Slavic name Ivan, which is derived from the Greek name Ioannes, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Russian, Serbian, Croatian, and Czech.
Ivana is believed to have been in use since the Middle Ages, and it was a popular name among the Slavic people of Eastern and Central Europe. The earliest recorded instance of the name dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in historical records from Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic.
In ancient times, the name Ivana was not commonly found in religious scriptures or historical texts. However, it was a popular name among the nobility and the ruling classes of various Slavic kingdoms and empires.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Ivana was Ivana of Bulgaria, who lived in the 13th century and was the wife of Tsar Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. Another notable figure was Ivana Semiz, a Serbian noblewoman who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the powerful Branković dynasty.
In the 15th century, Ivana Žamanjić was a Croatian noblewoman who played a significant role in the defense of her family's lands against the Ottoman Empire. In the 16th century, Ivana Dragišić was a Croatian poet and humanist who wrote in Latin and is considered one of the most important figures of the Croatian Renaissance.
During the 19th century, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, born in 1874 and died in 1938, was a Croatian writer and novelist who is best known for her collection of children's stories, which drew inspiration from Slavic folklore and mythology.
Throughout history, the name Ivana has been borne by numerous women from various backgrounds, including royalty, nobility, artists, writers, and scholars. While its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, it remains a widely used name in many Slavic cultures and has gained recognition worldwide.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ivana
People
Ivana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ivana 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
Ivana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ivana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,617 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ivana 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 44,999 US residents.
Is Ivana a common name?
We classify Ivana as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,824 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ivana most popular?
The single biggest year for Ivana was 2010, when 266 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ivana is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ivana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ivana 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.