Author

Ivy Hung
Data Journalist
Based in Arizona, USA
Ivy is a data journalist based in Arizona, United States. A business school graduate now working her way into tech, she spent her early career in product marketing, project management, and marketing strategy — roles where reading a name the same way you read a brand became second nature.
She joined NamesPop because the name datasets sit at exactly the intersection she cares about: consumer behaviour, cultural identity, and what numbers tell us about decisions families make quietly, one at a time. Her writing leans on SSA and municipal pet registries the way a marketer reads a segmentation report — looking for the audiences hiding inside the aggregate.
Cross-cultural naming is her main beat, with a particular interest in how Hispanic, Asian-American, and bicultural families navigate the tension between heritage and assimilation in the American Southwest.
2,409
Total pieces
140
Articles
1,119
Baby commentary
1,150
Pet commentary
Ivy Hung's contributions
- Baby commentary
Rishi
Rishi carries the weight of ancient Sanskrit tradition and the spark of contemporary headlines in equal measure. Ranked #1107 nationally with a peak in 2023, this four-letter name…
- Baby commentary
Romi
Romi is a Hebrew name meaning "my exaltation" or "my height" — from the root rum , to be exalted — that is particularly popular in Israeli Jewish communities and is arriving in Am…
- Baby commentary
Royal
Royal is an Old English-origin word name meaning exactly what it says: regal, of the crown, belonging to royalty. With about 4,190 SSA records and a peak in 2016, Royal-for-girls…
- Baby commentary
Rubi
Rubi is the Spanish spelling of Ruby — same gemstone, same red warmth, but with a cultural specificity that makes it distinct from the anglicized version. It peaked in 2005 and ha…
- Baby commentary
Ryann
Ryann is the double-N spelling of Ryan, a name that originated as an Irish surname and became a major boys' name in the 1970s-90s before crossing into girls' use. The added N sign…
- Baby commentary
Sally
Sally peaked in 1947 — the same year Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and Cary Grant was making films — which places it firmly in mid-century American culture. With over 205,0…
- Baby commentary
Samadhi
Samadhi is not, in the first instance, a personal name — it is a Sanskrit term from Hindu and Buddhist philosophy describing a state of meditative consciousness, of total absorpti…
- Baby commentary
Savanna
Savanna is the one-N spelling of Savannah — a Spanish-derived word for the vast treeless grasslands of Africa and South America that became both a geographic term and an American…
- Baby commentary
Scottie
Scottie peaked in 1971, has over 10,000 total uses, and sits at #1190 today. It's the kind of nickname-as-full-name choice that was common in mid-century America, and it's beginni…
- Baby commentary
Semaj
Semaj is James spelled backwards — a naming tradition in African American communities where reversing a beloved family name creates a new, phonetically distinct given name. With 7…
- Baby commentary
Silvia
Silvia is the Latin and Italian form of Sylvia — from the Latin silva , meaning "forest" or "woodland" — with the spelling that reflects the original Roman form rather than the an…
- Baby commentary
Sunnie
Sunnie peaked in 2024 — it's actively being chosen right now, by parents who want a name that radiates warmth without apology. With Old English roots and just over 2,400 total SSA…
- Baby commentary
Sunny
Sunny is an English word-name derived from the adjective meaning full of sunshine, bright, and cheerful — used as a given name for both boys and girls with a 2024 peak and 4,302 S…
- Baby commentary
Susan
Susan dominated American naming in a way that's hard to fully appreciate now. With over 1.1 million SSA records and a peak in 1955, it was a genuinely mass-market name — the Olivi…
- Baby commentary
Thatcher
Thatcher is an Old English occupational surname — from thæcker , the craftsman who thatches roofs — that entered American given-name use as part of the surname-style wave and peak…
- Baby commentary
Titan
Titan comes from Greek mythology's original ruling gods — the Titans who preceded the Olympians — and as a given name it signals ambition on an almost geological scale. Ranked #10…
- Baby commentary
Vaughn
Vaughn is the Welsh word for "small" or "junior" — a word that became a surname that became an occasional first name with a quietly distinguished feeling. Ranked #1187 with its pe…
- Baby commentary
Viraj
Viraj carries one of Sanskrit's most luminous meanings: radiant, brilliant, splendid — the quality of shining with one's own light. Ranked #1146 with a peak in 2024 and 1,792 tota…
- Baby commentary
Wendy
Wendy has a complicated naming biography. It was quite possibly invented — or at least popularized — by J.M. Barrie for the character of Wendy Darling in Peter Pan (1904), making…
- Baby commentary
Whitney
Whitney is an English place name turned surname turned given name — and for one extraordinary period, it became synonymous with the greatest voice in pop music. With 97,424 SSA re…
How we work
Editorial policy →
Topic selection, verification, corrections.
How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.