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Ivo

Boy name · 25 babies recorded · 1974–2025

Ivo: 25 babies born in Scotland since 1974, given to boys, peaking at 6 births in 2024.

Ivo is a name with Germanic roots, a short form of names beginning with the element *iv* meaning 'yew' or 'yew wood'—in reference to the tree's strong, flexible wood, often used for bows. It may also relate to the Old Norse *ýr* meaning 'yew bow', giving it an archer’s association. The name is also a late Latinisation of the Breton name *Ivo* or *Yves*, from the same root. Most famously, Ivo of Kermartin (St. Ivo) was a 13th-century Breton priest and lawyer, patron saint of lawyers and the orphaned. The East Neuk village of St Monans in Fife is sometimes linked in tradition to a different St. Ivo, though the connection is tenuous. Notably, the name shares its yew origin with the Scottish place-name *Ivy* or *Inver*, but remains less common here than in continental Europe.