Head to head · Girls' names
Ivory vs Vanessa
#378 vs #377 in 2025
Vanessa is a whisker ahead (#377 vs #378 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Vanessa is stepping back from its peak, Ivory is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Ivory 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, Vanessa 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: Ivory #1108, Vanessa — — Ivory higher
- 1890s: Ivory #1034, Vanessa — — Ivory higher
- 1900s: Ivory #875, Vanessa #1723 — Ivory higher
- 1910s: Ivory #939, Vanessa #3493 — Ivory higher
- 1920s: Ivory #1053, Vanessa #4278 — Ivory higher
- 1930s: Ivory #1052, Vanessa #2578 — Ivory higher
- 1940s: Ivory #1131, Vanessa #2047 — Ivory higher
- 1950s: Ivory #1423, Vanessa #293 — Vanessa higher
- 1960s: Ivory #2093, Vanessa #175 — Vanessa higher
- 1970s: Ivory #2175, Vanessa #112 — Vanessa higher
- 1980s: Ivory #1232, Vanessa #49 — Vanessa higher
- 1990s: Ivory #1411, Vanessa #57 — Vanessa higher
- 2000s: Ivory #1553, Vanessa #74 — Vanessa higher
- 2010s: Ivory #911, Vanessa #176 — Vanessa higher
- 2020s: Ivory #498, Vanessa #298 — Vanessa higher
Vanessa stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Vanessa has held the lead since the 1950s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ivory | Vanessa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1108 | — |
| 1890s | #1034 | — |
| 1900s | #875 | #1723 |
| 1910s | #939 | #3493 |
| 1920s | #1053 | #4278 |
| 1930s | #1052 | #2578 |
| 1940s | #1131 | #2047 |
| 1950s | #1423 | #293 |
| 1960s | #2093 | #175 |
| 1970s | #2175 | #112 |
| 1980s | #1232 | #49 |
| 1990s | #1411 | #57 |
| 2000s | #1553 | #74 |
| 2010s | #911 | #176 |
| 2020s | #498 | #298 |
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
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.
Vanessa
Not established
The name was invented in the early eighteenth century by a writer for a particular woman, built out of her own two names, and it is one of the very few English names whose moment of creation is documented. It then did what invented names occasionally do: it escaped, became ordinary, and by the twentieth century was being given by families who had never heard of either the writer or the woman.
a writer coins the name from a woman's two names → it appears in a poem published in the 1720s → the name escapes into ordinary use → a painter carries it in the twentieth century → an American peak at the end of the 1980s
How it traveled
Bell was Virginia Woolf's sister and by most accounts the steadier of the two. She ran an unconventional household with remarkable calm — her husband, her lover, her lover's lover and her children all under one roof — and painted throughout it.
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
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.
Vanessa
vuh-NESS-uh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. It is said the same way in English, Italian, Spanish and French, which very few names manage.
- Nessa — The back of the name, a complete name in Ireland in its own right.
- Van — The front alone, unisex and rather modern.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ivory if you want…
- a name on the way upup 223 places on the charts in five years
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 54% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 77% for Vanessa
Choose Vanessa if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsVanessa is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowVanessa is stepping back from its peak
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
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.
Vanessa
Strengths
- It works without alteration across most of Europe.
- Nessa and Van are both available and pull in different directions.
- It is one of the few English names with a documented inventor.
To consider
- It is closely dated to the 1980s in America and reads as a mother's name.
- There is no meaning, because the name was assembled rather than descended.
- Vanesa with one s is standard in Spanish and will be substituted.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Ivory
54%chance Ivory feels dated by 2040
Ivory 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.
Vanessa
77%chance Vanessa feels dated by 2040
Vanessa is coming down from a big peak (#41 in 1988). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
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 Ivory and Vanessa 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 Ivory and Vanessa?
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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
- Color names beyond Scarlett
- Names ending in -y
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Names of the '80s and '90s, currently resting
- all guides
Where Ivory and Vanessa each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ivory or Vanessa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ivory or Vanessa?
- Vanessa, in 2025: Vanessa ranked #377 with 813 babies; Ivory ranked #378 with 810 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ivory or Vanessa?
- Ivory. Over the last five years Ivory moved up 223 places; Vanessa moved down 168 places.
- Which is the older name, Ivory or Vanessa?
- Ivory entered the US charts in 1886; Vanessa entered the US charts in 1900. On the American record, Ivory is the older name.
- How many people are named Ivory and Vanessa?
- About 12,500 people named Ivory are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 252,000 people named Vanessa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Ivorys or Vanessas in the classroom?
- Ivory will almost certainly be the only one in school. Vanessa 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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