Ida

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ada in VE Venezuela, NG Nigeria, ES Spain and 4 more, אידה in IL Israel, PL Poland, UA Ukraine, Eda in TR Türkiye and Aidah in MY Malaysia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ida is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name414K records spelled Ida15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Argentina, United States, Peru

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Idà, Ida', Idá, Idã, Ïdä

• Indonesian given name123K records spelled Ida5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, India

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Ida, Ida'

• Finnish given name115K records spelled Ida3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Idà

• French given name79K records spelled Ida11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Ïda, Îda, Idå, Idã, Ïdã

• a separate given name25K records spelled Ida3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Norway

  Also written Idà, Ïda

• Hungarian given name19K records spelled Ida3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Slovenia, United States, Switzerland

  Also written Idá, Îdã

• Japanese given name11K records spelled Ida2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Japan, United States, Hong Kong, Italy

  Also written I-Da

70 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ida is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, from a Germanic short name stem, probably 'work, labor'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In Irish, Variant of Ita; also a Germanic name used in England and revived in the 19th century.

  as a name·Irish first names

• ‘rice paddy by the well’; habitational name from Idamura in Musashi (now Tokyo and Saitama prefectures). Variously written and found mostly in eastern Japan and the Ryukyu Islands.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• a stream of praise; a period of time; libation.

  as a name·The Penguin book of Hindu names for boys

• In Portuguese, (outbound) trip, departure

  as a word·A Frequency Dictionary of Portuguese

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ida McKinleyb. 1847USFirst Lady of the United States from 1897 to 1901
• Ida Wellsb. 1862USAmerican journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)
• Ida Dalserb. 1880ITmother of Benito Mussolini's natural son (1880–1937)
• Ida Noddackb. 1896DEGerman chemist (1896–1978)
• Ida Rolfb. 1896USAmerican biochemist, creator of Rolfing (1896–1979)
• Ida Kamińskab. 1899UAPolish actress (1899-1980)
• Tuulikki Pietiläb. 1917USnot in their usual nameFinnish artist (1917–2009)
• Ida Lupinob. 1918GBBritish actress (1918–1995)
• Ida Haendelb. 1928PLPolish-born British violinist and violin teacher
• Marie Christine, Princess Michael of Kentb. 1945ATnot in their usual namewife of Prince Michael of Kent

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,598 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ida?

We estimate roughly 227 thousand people bear Ida (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Ida have the most bearers?

Ida is most frequently recorded in Türkiye, where it is most often spelled eda.

Where is Ida most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ida is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 187 people — even though Türkiye holds more of our records for it.

How common is Ida compared with other names?

In Türkiye, Ida is the 281st most common given name of 294,597 given names recorded there.

Is Ida a male or female name?

Ida is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ida mean?

Recorded meaning: from the Old English name Ida, from id- ‘labour’; first attested Ida 1175 AD i (Mx)