Ike
Masculine · “he laughs”
Ike is Isaac at its shortest, and Isaac is the only patriarch whose name is a joke the Bible tells on itself: it means he laughs, because his mother laughed when she was told she would have him.
How old is the name Ike?
Ike was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ike alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 3,600 people named Ike are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ike most popular?
Ike peaked in 1884, reaching #184 nationally. Today it ranks #2451, 2,267 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yitzchaq to Ike
The story of Ike
Isaac reached English through the Bible and was a Puritan favorite, common in America through the nineteenth century. Ike was its ordinary clipping and was registered outright in American records from the 1880s. It gained a second life as a nickname for Dwight Eisenhower, whose 1952 campaign slogan made the three letters nationally famous.
Meaning
he laughs
Through Isaac, from the Hebrew Yitzchaq, 'he laughs' or 'he will laugh'. Genesis explains it twice — Abraham laughs when told, and Sarah laughs behind the tent — and the text makes the naming explicit. It is one of the clearest etymologies in scripture.
How the name formed
- Yitzchaq
- Isaac
- Ike
Related forms: Yitzchak · Isaac · Ishaq
Pronouncing Ike
YK
One syllable, rhyming with 'bike'. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Ike
Moderate
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191690 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #184reached in 1884
- Change vs 2022
- +1.9%55 in 2025, from 54
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.
Ike in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yitzchak in Hebrew — related form
- Isaac in Spanish — related form
- Ishaq in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Minnesota, Texas.
Ikes among us
people named Ike are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 31,056 born in 2025 was named Ike
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ike 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
Where Ike is headed
Ike is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ike beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ike in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Isaac stands behind it with three thousand years of documented use across three religions.
- The meaning is unusually vivid and the text explains it explicitly.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.
- Given outright it stays informal; Isaac on the certificate keeps both registers.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century and to the 1950s.
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What they receive
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Ike
Masculine · #2451 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ikes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Ike are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ike in 2025?
- Ike ranks #2451 among US boy names in 2025, with 55 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ike?
- About 1 in every 31,056 US boys born in 2025 was named Ike — 55 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ike with classmates?
- Ike will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ike
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaxton#2451 · Keelan#2451 · Zaydan#2451 · Zyir#2451 · Raymundo#2451 · Sebastien#2451 · Yuvraj#2451 · Maksim#2451
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ike? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ike and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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