Ida: Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, & Inspiration

Updated June 9, 2019

Girl name origins & meanings

English and German : from Ida, which is found as both a male and female personal name in English but only as a female name in German. This is of continental Germanic origin and was popular among the Normans, who brought it to England. Its etymology is disputed: it is thought by some to be of the same origin as hild- ‘battle’, ‘strife’; by others to be of the same origin as Old High German idis ‘(wise) woman’, or from Old Norse idh ‘work’, ‘activity’.
Japanese : ‘rice paddy by the well’; habitational name from Ida-mura in Musashi (now Tōkyō and Saitama prefectures). Variously written and found mostly in eastern Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands.