Head to head · Girls' names
Itzel vs Ivory
#359 vs #378 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Itzel is a whisker ahead (#359 vs #378 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Itzel leads 4 measures of 6; Ivory leads 2.
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: Itzel —, Ivory #1108 — Ivory higher
- 1890s: Itzel —, Ivory #1034 — Ivory higher
- 1900s: Itzel —, Ivory #875 — Ivory higher
- 1910s: Itzel —, Ivory #939 — Ivory higher
- 1920s: Itzel —, Ivory #1053 — Ivory higher
- 1930s: Itzel —, Ivory #1052 — Ivory higher
- 1940s: Itzel —, Ivory #1131 — Ivory higher
- 1950s: Itzel —, Ivory #1423 — Ivory higher
- 1960s: Itzel —, Ivory #2093 — Ivory higher
- 1970s: Itzel #9652, Ivory #2175 — Ivory higher
- 1980s: Itzel #5534, Ivory #1232 — Ivory higher
- 1990s: Itzel #988, Ivory #1411 — Itzel higher
- 2000s: Itzel #416, Ivory #1553 — Itzel higher
- 2010s: Itzel #468, Ivory #911 — Itzel higher
- 2020s: Itzel #455, Ivory #498 — Itzel higher
Ivory stood higher in 11 of 15 decades; Itzel has held the lead since the 1990s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Itzel | Ivory |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1108 |
| 1890s | — | #1034 |
| 1900s | — | #875 |
| 1910s | — | #939 |
| 1920s | — | #1053 |
| 1930s | — | #1052 |
| 1940s | — | #1131 |
| 1950s | — | #1423 |
| 1960s | — | #2093 |
| 1970s | #9652 | #2175 |
| 1980s | #5534 | #1232 |
| 1990s | #988 | #1411 |
| 2000s | #416 | #1553 |
| 2010s | #468 | #911 |
| 2020s | #455 | #498 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Itzel
Linked to Ixchel, a Maya goddess; also read through Maya itz, 'dew, nectar, sap'
Two serious readings compete. The most common holds Itzel to be a modern form of Ixchel (Ix Chel), the Yucatec Maya goddess of the moon, medicine, weaving and childbirth. The other works from the Maya root itz, which covers dew, nectar, resin and sap — the fluid that seeps from a plant. Popular lists often print 'rainbow lady' as a flat translation; that gloss is not supported by the Maya language itself. An unsettled name is a fuller one here, not a broken one.
How it traveled
The name belongs to the Yucatec Maya linguistic world, and its most-cited source, Ixchel, is documented in Maya codices and in sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the peninsula, where she appears as a goddess of childbirth and healing with a pilgrimage site on Cozumel. Itzel itself came into general use much later, in twentieth-century Mexico, during a broad turn toward Indigenous given names alongside Xóchitl, Citlali and Nayeli.
Ivory
ivory — the hard creamy-white material of elephant tusk, and the pale off-white shade named after it
The English word came through Old French ivoire from Latin ebur. How ebur itself arose is less clear; the Latin is where the secure trail begins.
ebur (Latin) → ivoire (Old French) → ivorie (Middle English) → Ivory
How it traveled
This is a word name, and an old word: ivory has meant tusk in English since the Middle Ages, when it arrived from Old French as one of the many Norman-era borrowings that reshaped the language. As a given name it belongs to the English-speaking habit of naming children after precious and beautiful substances — the same instinct behind Pearl, Opal and Amber.
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
Itzel
eet-SEL
Spanish stress falls on the second syllable, and the tz is one quick ts sound, as in 'cats'. English speakers commonly say it-ZELL, which most families accept without correcting.
- Itzy — The most common informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; also written Itzi.
- Itze — Informal, used mainly within the family; rarely written on documents.
- Chelo — Used occasionally through the Ixchel connection; more common among older speakers and not attached to Itzel everywhere.
Ivory
EYE-vuh-ree
Often compressed to two syllables in fast speech, EYE-vree, exactly as the ordinary word is. Both are the same name; no correcting needed.
- Ivy — The usual short form, and a very well-established given name in its own right — worth knowing, since an Ivory may be called Ivy by default.
- Vee — Informal, usually secondhand from Ivy rather than direct from Ivory.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Itzel if you want…
- a name most people already know#359 in 2025, 850 babies that year
- a name with fewer syllablesItzel is 2 syllables to Ivory's 3
Choose Ivory if you want…
- a name fewer children share#378 in 2025 — ivory will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 223 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itIvory runs 3 syllables, Itzel 2
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
Itzel
Strengths
- Short, two syllables, and spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish — no silent letters and no competing spellings in wide use.
- Works in both Spanish and English mouths without changing form, which matters in bilingual families.
- Rooted in a documented Maya naming tradition rather than invented recently, so it has real history behind it.
To consider
- English speakers who have not met the name usually guess it-ZELL rather than eet-SEL. Both are in use, so decide early which one your family will answer to, because the correction is a lifelong small task otherwise.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled. If you want a name whose translation you can state in one line to relatives, this one will always come with a footnote — and the popular 'rainbow lady' gloss is not something the Maya language supports.
- Over the phone it is often heard as Itzayana, Ixchel or Isabel, and the tz can come back written as ts or z.
Ivory
Strengths
- Spelling needs no explaining — it is an English word most people can write on first hearing.
- Ivy is ready as a short form, and it is a familiar name itself, so the nickname needs no introduction.
- Not a recent invention: it has been given to American children for generations, so it carries a record rather than a trend.
To consider
- The ivory trade and elephant poaching are the association some adults reach for first. Children rarely make that link, but it is a real one and it comes up in conversation from time to time.
- Ivory is also a shade of off-white, familiar from paint charts, bridal fabric and Ivory soap, sold since the nineteenth century. Some people will hear the color or the brand before the name.
- Expect a certain amount of drift toward Ivy — from teachers, from relatives, from anyone in a hurry. Fine if you like Ivy; something to weigh if you do not.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Itzel and Ivory 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 Itzel and Ivory?
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 these names appear on
- Names with a Z in them
- Spanish and Latin names with warmth
- Latin American and Caribbean names
- Names ending in -ell / -el
- all guides
Where Itzel and Ivory each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Itzel or Ivory — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Itzel or Ivory?
- Itzel, in 2025: Itzel ranked #359 with 850 babies; Ivory ranked #378 with 810 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Itzel or Ivory?
- Ivory. Over the last five years Itzel moved up 209 places; Ivory moved up 223 places.
- Which is the older name, Itzel or Ivory?
- Itzel entered the US charts in 1977; Ivory entered the US charts in 1886. On the American record, Ivory is the older name.
- How many people are named Itzel and Ivory?
- About 21,000 people named Itzel are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 12,500 people named Ivory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Itzels or Ivorys in the classroom?
- Itzel will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ivory will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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