Ivy
From the Greek word for ivy, the climbing plant. Most Poles have never met one: fewer than 150 carry it, though the name has been given more often lately.
Ivy Pronunciation
What Ivy means
Where Ivy comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ivy names a climbing plant, and the plant carried meaning long before people carried the name. In Greek the plant was kissos, sacred to Dionysus, whose companions wore ivy crowns at his festivals. The leaf stayed green through winter and stood for a life that returns. English speakers borrowed the plant word for a girl rather late, during the Victorian fashion for flower and botanical names.
Ivy rose sharply in England around 1900. It ranked among the popular girls' names there in the years before the First World War, then thinned out, then came back into use in recent decades.
The meaning stays literal. Ivy is the plant, bluszcz in Polish, the evergreen that clings to a wall and holds. No hidden virtue was grafted onto it later. A child called Ivy shares her name with the leaf on the stone.
How many people are named Ivy
1 in 151301 women in Poland is named Ivy. 149 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2657 among female names.
Ivy's popularity over time
6 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #862 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2013.
Where Ivy is most popular
Ivy is most popular in Podlaskie, 557% above the national average (2 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Warmian-Masurian (+502%) and Pomeranian (+193%).
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Podlaskie2 girls born+557%
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Warmian-Masurian2 girls born+502%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+193%
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Silesian2 girls born+90%
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Masovian2 girls born+22%
Ivy as a middle name
Ivy is a first name for 149 women in Poland and a middle name for another 61, a 71/29 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 870th, between Erica (61) and Ludgarda (61).
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#868 Nikolina62
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#869 Erica61
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#870 Ivy61
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#871 Ludgarda61
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#872 Sofía61