Ione
Feminine · “violet”
Ione is a violet in Greek — ion, the flower — and it is also one of the Nereids, the fifty sea-nymph daughters of Nereus in Hesiod's catalog.
How old is the name Ione?
Ione was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ione alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. About 1,900 people named Ione are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ione most popular?
Ione peaked in 1916, reaching #327 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 6,806 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ion to Ione
The story of Ione
Ione appears in Hesiod's list of the Nereids, and the name was picked up by nineteenth-century English writers looking for classical names with a soft shape — Edward Bulwer-Lytton gave it to a heroine of The Last Days of Pompeii in 1834. American families used it through the following century, and it peaked around 1918.
Meaningscholars disagree
violet
Usually read from the Greek ion, 'violet' — the flower, and the root behind the color word 'iodine' by way of its violet vapour. Ione is also a Nereid in Hesiod. A third reading connects it to Ionia, the Greek region of Asia Minor. The violet reading is the commonest.
How the name formed
- ion
- Ione
Related forms: Ἰόνη · Iona · Ione
Pronouncing Ione
eye-OH-nee
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Some bearers say eye-OHN with two.
Nicknames for Ione
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 girls named
- 1920367 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #327reached in 1916
- Change vs 2021
- −6.3%15 in 2025, from 16
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.
Ione in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ἰόνη in Greek — transliteration
- Iona in English — related form
- Ione in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Iones among us
people named Ione are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Ione
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vada test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ione's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vada climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vada's path sketches the road Ione is walking now.
Ione 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
Ione beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ione in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The violet meaning is concrete and attractive.
- A Nereid of Hesiod's catalog carries the name.
- Three syllables built of open vowels, which carries well.
- The pronunciation splits between two and three syllables.
- Iona is close enough to cause confusion and has a different origin.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Ione
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Iones are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Ione are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ione in 2025?
- Ione ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ione?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Ione — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ione with classmates?
- Ione will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ione
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Rivers#7133 · Pennie#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ione? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ione and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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