Ivy en · PROPN · etymology 1
Etymology
From ivy, the name of a plant. An ivy branch used to be hung outside an establishment to advertise that it sold alcohol, so it may originally been an occupationational surname for the proprietor of such an establishment.
Meanings
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A unisex given name from English.
Little Ivy's life, as the months pass on, is a quiet, uneventful one, but exceedingly happy withal: - - - "You have a strange name, my dear," the old lady says one day, and the child answers in her serious, old-fashioned way, "Yes, so everyone has always said. You know my mamma died when I was born, and papa named me that because he said that I came when his heart was all aching with sorrow, and twined around it and comforted him."
1882 Something to Read. (Edited by) Edwin John Bret: Something to read novelette. page 254Kind people apply all the milder words to your face; only Father ever called it ugly. Ugly Ivy mingy as her name. Father himself was handsome and drunken. Mother had wanted 'Ivy' simple and yet pretty and for once stuck to her guns. You wished she hadn't.
1974, Patrick White, The Cockatoos: Shorter Novels and Stories., Cape, →ISBN, page 204:
- A unisex given name from English. ▸ A female given name from English; popular in the UK in the beginning of the 20th century.
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(rare) A unisex given name from English. ▸ A male given name from English.
Ivy Andrews, Ivy Calvin, Ivy Lee
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(rare) A diminutive of the male given name Ivan.
Ivy Olson, Ivy Williamson
- A surname from English.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ivys | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| Ivies | Number=Plur | lexicographic |