Ikea
Feminine
Ikea is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 580 girls against 9 boys since 1880.
Ikea is a three-syllable name, said eye-KEE-uh, that came into American use as a girl's name. Its spelling is shared with the Swedish furniture company, whose name is not a word at all but a set of initials.
How old is the name Ikea?
Ikea first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Ikea alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 600 people named Ikea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ikea most popular?
Ikea peaked in 1989, reaching #1834 nationally. See the whole 1989 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Ikea
Ingvar Kamprad started a mail-order business as a teenager in southern Sweden and built its name from his own initials and the names of his farm and his parish, so that the word was a small map of where he came from. The name Ikea on an American birth certificate draws a different map. It sounds like a sister of Keisha and Kia, with a bright long I in front, and it was given almost entirely to girls. Two unrelated things met at one spelling, and each is exactly what it is.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source records where the given name Ikea comes from, and no record links it to the company. The company's name is an acronym: Ingvar Kamprad, the founder; Elmtaryd, the farm where he grew up; and Agunnaryd, his home parish in Småland.
Pronouncing Ikea
eye-KEE-uh
Stress on the middle syllable. Americans usually say the store's name the same way, which makes the association immediate; in Swedish the company is ih-KAY-ah.
Nicknames for Ikea
Limited
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
- 1985
- Most girls named
- 198972 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1834reached in 1989
- Change vs 2007
- 0.0%5 in 2012, from 5
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.
Ikeas among us
people named Ikea are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Ikea sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is easy to say and has a lively rhythm.
- It is rare as a given name.
- The furniture store is the first thing nearly everyone will think of, and she will hear about it often.
- There is no recorded meaning to give; the honest answer is that the name and the store simply share letters.
- A very few boys have been given it, and for them the store joke comes on top of a name that reads as a girl's.
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What they receive
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Ikea
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ikeas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Ikea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ikea in 2025?
- Ikea is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ikea with classmates?
- Ikea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isabella#7 · Irene#651 · Ida#1120 · Isabel#176 · Isabelle#166 · Iris#61 · Ivy#39 · Irma#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ikea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ikea and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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