Ivar
Masculine
Ivar is the modern spelling of Old Norse Ívarr, a name written down in Icelandic sagas and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and still worn plainly and everyday in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Two syllables, five letters, no silent anything. It came to the United States mostly in the trunks of Scandinavian immigrants, and it has never entirely left.
How old is the name Ivar?
Ivar first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Ivar is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,100 people named Ivar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ivar most popular?
Ivar peaked in 1911, reaching #1038 nationally. Today it ranks #1382, 344 places below that high. See the whole 1911 chart.
Ivar appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Ívarr to Ivar
The story of Ivar
Ívarr belongs to the Norse naming stock of the Viking age, and it traveled the way Norse names traveled: by ship. It turns up in the Irish annals as Ímar, in Gaelic as Iomhar, and in Wales and England it settled into Ivor, which is why the two names look like cousins — they are. In Scandinavia the name never needed reviving; it stayed in ordinary use through the medieval period and into the present, alongside the variant Iver. The American Ivars descend mainly from nineteenth-century Norwegian and Swedish settlement in the Midwest, and more recently from parents reaching back for the Old Norse form directly.
Meaningscholars disagree
most often read as "bow warrior" or "archer"
The first element is generally taken as Old Norse ýr, the yew tree and so the bow made from it. The second is argued over: herr, "army, warrior", giving "bow warrior", or a form related to varr, "guarded, watchful", giving something closer to "yew guardian". Both readings are seriously held by scholars of Norse names.
How the name formed
- Ívarr
- Ímar
- Iomhar
- Ivar
- Ivor
Related forms: Ívarr · Iver · Ivor · Iomhar · Iivari · Ímar
Pronouncing Ivar
EYE-var
EYE-var is the usual American reading. In Scandinavia it is EE-var, with a light first syllable, and plenty of families here use that version too. Worth deciding which one you want before the birth announcement, since both are legitimate.
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
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 2025133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1038reached in 1911
- Change vs 2023
- +5.6%133 in 2025, from 126
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.
Ivar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ívarr in Old Norse — same name
- Iver in Norwegian — spelling variant
- Ivor in Welsh and English — related form
- Iomhar in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Iivari in Finnish — related form
- Ímar in Irish (historical) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ivars among us
people named Ivar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 12,843 born in 2025 was named Ivar
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
Ivar is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ivar is headed
Ivar looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Ivar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ivar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and spelled the way it sounds once heard — little risk of a long spelling-correction habit.
- A documented record stretching from the Viking age to present-day Scandinavian classrooms, with no gap in between.
- Works in several languages at once: recognizable in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia without adjustment.
- Needs no nickname to be usable, and has no obvious one, so it tends to stay as given.
- Familiar cousins — Ivor, Iver, Ivan — mean the shape is not strange to English speakers.
- It sits one consonant away from Ivan and one vowel away from Ivor, so expect to be misheard as both, on the phone and in doctors' waiting rooms.
- Two live pronunciations, EYE-var and EE-var, and no way to signal which you mean in writing. Families settle it by simply repeating their version.
- The Viking leader Ívarr known as the Boneless has had a recent run in popular television, so some people will make that association first.
- Rare enough that a child is unlikely to meet another — good if that appeals, though it does mean being the one who explains the name.
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What they receive
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Ivar
Masculine · #1382 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ivars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Ivar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ivar in 2025?
- Ivar ranks #1382 among US boy names in 2025, with 133 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ivar?
- About 1 in every 12,843 US boys born in 2025 was named Ivar — 133 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ivar with classmates?
- Ivar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ivar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kymir#1382 · Vernon#1382 · Deon#1382 · Micaiah#1382 · Brett#1382 · Thorin#1376 · Anton#1388 · Lyric#1388
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ivar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ivar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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