How Many Babies Are Named Ikea?

In 2002, a baby girl named Ikea was born in the UK. Her name, which had been inspired by an advertisement for the furniture store Ikea, was so unusual that it made headlines.

The name Ikea has been just as unusual in the U.S., at least over the last decade:

• 2009: ? babies named Ikea (fewer than 5)
• 2008: ? babies named Ikea (fewer than 5)
• 2007: 5 babies named Ikea
• 2006: 8 babies named Ikea
• 2005: 8 babies named Ikea
• 2004: 7 babies named Ikea
• 2003: 6 babies named Ikea
• 2002: 6 babies named Ikea
• 2001: ? babies named Ikea (fewer than 5)
• 2000: 6 babies named Ikea

If you go back a bit further, though, this is what you’ll see:

• 1999: 14 babies named Ikea
• 1998: 18 babies named Ikea
• 1997: 20 babies named Ikea
• 1996: 23 babies named Ikea
• 1995: 29 babies named Ikea
• 1994: 33 babies named Ikea
• 1993: 31 babies named Ikea
• 1992: 43 babies named Ikea
• 1991: 45 babies named Ikea
• 1990: 65 babies named Ikea
• 1989: 72 babies named Ikea
• 1988: 27 babies named Ikea
• 1987: 44 babies named Ikea
• 1986: 30 babies named Ikea
• 1985: 35 babies named Ikea

Many more confirmed Ikeas. Close to 600 of them since the name first popped up on the SSA‘s baby name list in 1985–the year that Ikea (the company) opened its first U.S. store.

The name was most popular in 1989 and 1990. Usage tapered off after that, likely because Ikea (the name) became less cool-sounding as Ikea (the company) opened more stores across the country.

Have you ever met a person named Ikea?

Source: A child called Ikea: Myth or reality?