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
Kingsley
Kingsley carries its meaning on its sleeve — "king's meadow" in Old English — and combines regal imagery with a surname feel that gives it genuine versatility. Ranked #984 with a…
- Baby commentary
Kolter
Kolter peaked in 2024 and holds rank #834 with just 1,460 SSA records. A 2024 peak with a small total count puts Kolter in sharp focus as one of the freshest names in this ranking…
- Baby commentary
Krue
Krue is one of the most genuinely new entries in this batch: only 1,288 SSA records, origin uncertain, peaked in 2024. It sits at the very edge of American naming — a name being c…
- Baby commentary
Landen
Landen peaked in 2008 and holds rank #813 with 26,602 SSA records. That 2008 peak puts it firmly in the first wave of surname-style boy names that reshaped American naming in the…
- Baby commentary
Landyn
Landyn is the phonetic respelling of Landon — itself a surname name from the English place-name tradition. Ranked #952 with a 2012 peak and 11,690 SSA records, it caught a wave in…
- Baby commentary
Laylani
Laylani blends two rich naming traditions: the Arabic Layla (night, dark beauty) with the Hawaiian -lani (sky, heaven, royalty), into a name that is simultaneously multicultural a…
- Baby commentary
Lea
Lea is one of the most elegant minimal forms in Western naming: three letters, two phonemes, and a history that spans Hebrew, Latin, and Old English simultaneously. With 33,520 SS…
- Baby commentary
Leif
Leif is the Old Norse word for "heir" or "descendant" — three letters, one syllable, packed with Viking-age history. Ranked #925 with a 2022 peak and 9,737 SSA records, it's one o…
- Baby commentary
Lilianna
Lilianna is a name that leans into its own abundance — the doubled L, the doubled N, the triple vowel, the four syllables. It peaked in 2012 with 8,506 SSA records and sits at ran…
- Baby commentary
Love
Love is the most direct name a parent can give a child: a one-syllable English word that means exactly what it says, used without metaphor or transformation. With 4,527 SSA record…
- Baby commentary
Luisa
Luisa is the Spanish and Italian feminine form of Louis, itself from the Old High German Hludwig, meaning famous warrior. It ranks 869 with 14,073 SSA records and peaked in 2022 —…
- Baby commentary
Madalyn
Madalyn is one of several spelling variations of Madeline, a name with deep biblical roots and a long history of American popularity. At rank 932 with 22,943 SSA records and a 200…
- Baby commentary
Maddie
Maddie is the nickname that became a name — a move that American naming has been making with increasing confidence. With 5,966 SSA records and a 2023 peak, it's being given as a b…
- Baby commentary
Malaya
Malaya carries both a geographical meaning and an Indigenous Filipino one. In Tagalog, malaya means free. That dual resonance gives the name a depth that purely invented compounds…
- Baby commentary
Marcello
Marcello is the Italian form of Marcel — itself a diminutive of Marcus — and it carries the full weight of Italian cinema, music, and dolce vita romanticism along with its double-…
- Baby commentary
Marjorie
Marjorie is the most historically substantial name in this batch: 273,770 SSA records, a peak in 1921, and a phonetic origin in the Latin/Greek Marguerite (pearl). It's the name o…
- Baby commentary
Mccoy
Mccoy sits at an unusual intersection: it's an Irish-Scottish clan surname that became an American idiomatic phrase — "the real McCoy" — and is now showing up as a given name in S…
- Baby commentary
Meir
Meir is a Hebrew name meaning "one who illuminates" or "one who shines" — and it has the same light-root ( or ) as the more common Maor and Uri. Ranked #916 with a 2024 peak and 4…
- Baby commentary
Melvin
Melvin peaked in 1928 and has 244,676 SSA records, a century of steady American use. At rank #872 today, it's in the same territory as Eugene and Leroy: a name that was thoroughly…
- Baby commentary
Mercy
Mercy is a Puritan virtue name with a specific theological resonance: it means the same in a naming context as in a theological one, namely compassion, clemency, and the willingne…
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How we gather data
Methodology →
Sources, processing pipeline, limitations.