Head to head · Girls' names
Grace vs Ivy
#38 vs #39 in 2025
Grace is a whisker ahead (#38 vs #39 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Grace is stepping back from its peak, Ivy is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Ivy has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Grace leads 4 measures of 6; Ivy leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Grace #15, Ivy #276 — Grace higher
- 1890s: Grace #16, Ivy #320 — Grace higher
- 1900s: Grace #18, Ivy #402 — Grace higher
- 1910s: Grace #27, Ivy #496 — Grace higher
- 1920s: Grace #44, Ivy #675 — Grace higher
- 1930s: Grace #82, Ivy #768 — Grace higher
- 1940s: Grace #141, Ivy #899 — Grace higher
- 1950s: Grace #198, Ivy #592 — Grace higher
- 1960s: Grace #266, Ivy #730 — Grace higher
- 1970s: Grace #366, Ivy #632 — Grace higher
- 1980s: Grace #234, Ivy #615 — Grace higher
- 1990s: Grace #97, Ivy #543 — Grace higher
- 2000s: Grace #16, Ivy #346 — Grace higher
- 2010s: Grace #21, Ivy #155 — Grace higher
- 2020s: Grace #36, Ivy #43 — Grace higher
Grace stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Grace | Ivy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #15 | #276 |
| 1890s | #16 | #320 |
| 1900s | #18 | #402 |
| 1910s | #27 | #496 |
| 1920s | #44 | #675 |
| 1930s | #82 | #768 |
| 1940s | #141 | #899 |
| 1950s | #198 | #592 |
| 1960s | #266 | #730 |
| 1970s | #366 | #632 |
| 1980s | #234 | #615 |
| 1990s | #97 | #543 |
| 2000s | #16 | #346 |
| 2010s | #21 | #155 |
| 2020s | #36 | #43 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Grace
- Scotland#5
- England & Wales#25
- Canada#42
Ivy
- England & Wales#5
- Scotland#16
- Canada#33
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Grace
Grace, favor, thanks
From Latin gratia, which carried all three senses: charm, kindness freely given, and gratitude. In Christian use it came to mean divine favor specifically, which is the sense the Puritan namers had in mind.
Gratia → Grace
How it traveled
The root is Latin gratia, which passed into the Romance languages as Grazia, Gracia and Graça, often attached to titles of the Virgin Mary. English took it up not through those routes but through the Reformation habit of naming children after Christian virtues — Faith, Prudence, Mercy, Grace — and it traveled to North America with those families.
Ivy
The ivy plant — the climbing evergreen
From Old English īfig, the ordinary word for the plant, used directly as a name.
īfig (Old English) → ivy (English plant name) → Ivy
How it traveled
Ivy is an English vocabulary name, taken straight from the plant: Old English īfig, a climber that stays green when everything around it has gone bare. Ivy wreaths were worn at the Greek and Roman festivals of Dionysus and Bacchus, and the plant kept a place in English midwinter custom — the traditional carol "The Holly and the Ivy" pairs the two as evergreens of the season.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Grace
GRAYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. The same in British and American English, and rarely misheard or misspelled.
- Gracie — The standard informal short form for well over a century, and long established as a given name in its own right.
- Gracey — Spelling variant of Gracie, used informally.
- Gray — An occasional modern clipping, informal and much less widespread than Gracie.
Ivy
EYE-vee
Two syllables, stress on the first. The pronunciation is settled wherever English is spoken, and matches the plant exactly.
- Ivy-Rose — Not a short form but a hyphenated compound in real use in England and Wales, where Ivy is often paired with a second name.
Who has carried each name
Grace
Grace Kelly (b. 1929) — Oscar-winning actress who became Princess of Monaco
Grace Hopper (b. 1906) — Computing pioneer and Navy rear admiral behind COBOL
Grace Jones (b. 1948) — Fearless singer and style icon of the '80s
Ivy
No documented entry for Ivy yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Grace if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsGrace is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesGrace is 1 syllable to Ivy's 2
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Gracie, Gracey and Gray
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 53% for Ivy
Choose Ivy if you want…
- a name on the way upup 18 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itIvy runs 2 syllables, Grace 1
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Ivy (Ivy-Rose)
- a name that feels very nowIvy is climbing the charts fast
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Grace
Strengths
- One settled spelling that English speakers read correctly on sight, and one syllable to say — no correcting, no repeating.
- An unbroken record in English use since the Puritan era, so it has never had to be revived.
- Ready-made informal form in Gracie, which also works as a standalone name if she prefers it.
To consider
- It is an ordinary English word as well as a name — grace period, saying grace, graceful. Most bearers never notice; a few get tired of the wordplay.
- Its origin is specifically Christian, and the virtue-name tradition it belongs to is still audible to many people. Worth deciding whether that reading suits your family.
- Because it is so heavily used in the middle slot, some first-name-and-Grace combinations can sound like a default rather than a decision.
Ivy
Strengths
- Spelled the way the English word is spelled, so most people write it correctly on the first try.
- One settled pronunciation across every English-speaking country, with no regional variants to correct.
- Short enough to need no nickname, and it sits easily beside longer or more formal middle names.
To consider
- It is rising quickly, so a child born now is likely to meet more Ivys among her classmates than the current figures suggest.
- There is no natural short form and no long formal version to retreat to. Ivy is what she will be called in every register, from the playground to a résumé.
- The word carries other associations — the Ivy League, poison ivy — that children notice and joke about, usually briefly.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Grace
12%chance Grace feels dated by 2040
Grace has held the top-100 across 10 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Ivy
53%chance Ivy feels dated by 2040
Ivy is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Grace and Ivy in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Grace and Ivy?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Grace and Ivy — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Grace or Ivy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Grace or Ivy?
- Grace, in 2025: Grace ranked #38 with 5,127 babies; Ivy ranked #39 with 5,117 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Grace or Ivy?
- Ivy. Over the last five years Grace moved down 10 places; Ivy moved up 18 places.
- Which is the older name, Grace or Ivy?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Grace and Ivy?
- About 316,000 people named Grace are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 76,000 people named Ivy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Graces or Ivys in the classroom?
- Grace will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ivy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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