Avory
Feminine · “elf-ruler”
Avory is given to both — 516 girls and 363 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Avory swaps the middle vowel of Avery for an o, which does two things: it changes almost nothing audible, and it makes the name look like ivory. Both effects are probably intended. The name underneath descends from Alberich, the Germanic elf-king, and its peak in this spelling is 2014.
How old is the name Avory?
Avory first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Avory alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Avory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Avory most popular?
Avory peaked in 2014, reaching #4178 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 1,938 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alberich to Avory
The story of Avory
Avery reached America as a surname and became a given name in the twentieth century, first on boys and then, from the 1990s, overwhelmingly on girls; it entered the American top ten for girls in the 2010s. Very popular names generate respellings, and Avery's middle vowel is unstressed and therefore free — any vowel written there sounds the same. Avary, Avory, Averie and Avrie all exploit that. Avory is the one that lands on a real English word, and the resemblance to ivory is close enough to be part of the choice.
Meaning
elf-ruler; elf-power
Germanic alf, 'elf', and ric, 'ruler, power', give Alberich, a genuine early medieval personal name and the dwarf-king of the Nibelung tradition. Norman French wore it to Auvery and then Avery, which became an English surname. The o in this spelling is American and carries nothing. Ivory, which the spelling evokes, is unrelated — it comes from Latin ebur through Old French ivoire.
How the name formed
- Alberich
- Auvery
- Avery
- Avory
Related forms: Avery · Aubrey
Pronouncing Avory
AY-vuh-ree
Three syllables, stress on the first, with the middle reduced almost to nothing — which is why the a, e and o spellings all sound identical in that position. Many speakers compress it to two, AYV-ree.
Nicknames for Avory
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1994
- Most girls named
- 201435 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4178reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- +11.8%19 in 2025, from 17
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Avory in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Avery in English — spelling variant
- Aubrey in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Avorys among us
people named Avory are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Avory
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Avory
- #6116
- Avory on the 2025 chart
- #925
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Avory went to 19 girls in 2025, but Avori is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 35, which makes it the 925th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,191 places above the chart.
- Avory19
- Avori16
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Avory itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darlen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Avory's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darlen climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darlen's path sketches the road Avory is walking now.
Avory sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Avory beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Avory in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ava is a top-ten name available inside it as a short form.
- The etymology is settled and genuinely memorable — an elf and a ruler.
- The sound is universally familiar, so only the spelling is unusual.
- It will be corrected to Avery by essentially everyone writing it down.
- The resemblance to ivory is noticed and commented on.
- The middle vowel is unstressed, so the respelling changes nothing audible.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Avory
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Avorys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Avory are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Avory?
- Avory is the most-used spelling in US records — 19 of the 35 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Avori.
- How popular is the name Avory in 2025?
- Avory ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Avory?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Avory — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Avory with classmates?
- Avory will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Avory
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Avory? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Avory and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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