Fun Facts About the Name Idus
- 165 babies named Idus: U.S. records list 165 babies given the name Idus from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Idus Mean?
Idus is the Latin word for the Ides, the mid-month day of the Roman calendar: the 15th in March, May, July, and October, and the 13th in the other months. The Latin noun idus is plural and grammatically feminine, so it names a day rather than a person. Its deeper origin is disputed. The Roman scholar Varro connected it with Latin iduare, "to divide," because the Ides divided the month in two; other ancient writers recorded an Etruscan word for the same day. On either explanation the literal sense is something like "dividing day" or "mid-month day," and that calendar sense is the only well-documented meaning of Idus. Documentation of Idus as an inherited personal name is thin, so beyond the calendar term whose spelling it matches, the name's meaning as a given name is uncertain.
Idus Name History & Origins
The Ides belonged to the oldest layer of the Roman calendar. Roman months were counted backward from three fixed points: the Kalends on the 1st, the Nones on the 5th or 7th, and the Ides on the 13th or 15th. The Ides originally marked the full moon, which is why they came later in the month than the other two markers. The day was sacred to Jupiter, and on the Ides the flamen Dialis, the priest of Jupiter, sacrificed a sheep known as the ovis idulis.
The word idus was already old in the classical period, and its derivation was debated even then. Varro linked it to iduare, "to divide," because the Ides split the month; other Roman writers passed on an Etruscan term for the day. Modern reference works generally note both possibilities and treat the question as unsettled.
The 15th of March in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar was killed during a meeting of the Senate, made the Ides of March a proverb, and the warning "Beware the Ides of March" is familiar from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. The Roman habit of dating by Kalends, Nones, and Ides outlived the Republic and continued to appear in later Latin documents.
As a personal name, Idus is uncommon, and no clear line of transmission from the Roman calendar term to modern use is documented. Where the name occurs, it matches the Latin word exactly in form, but treating the two as the same word is an inference rather than a recorded fact.
How Popular is the Name Idus?
Idus has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1916. Its best rank was #1,323 in 1905.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | #3,681 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1947 | #3,979 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1944 | #3,645 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1939 | #3,711 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1937 | #3,775 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1931 | #4,030 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1930 | #3,435 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1928 | #3,218 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1927 | #3,287 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1926 | #3,935 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1925 | #3,264 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1923 | #3,302 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1922 | #2,704 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1921 | #3,343 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1920 | #2,671 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1919 | #2,773 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1918 | #2,777 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1917 | #4,257 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1916 | #2,328 | 12 | 0.0013% |
| 1915 | #3,608 | 6 | 0.0007% |
| 1914 | #3,076 | 6 | 0.0009% |
| 1912 | #2,710 | 5 | 0.0012% |
| 1905 | #1,323 | 5 | 0.0038% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Idus Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Your tendency is to finish whatever you start. You like to use the pen or the needle (writing, fashion design etc). You are loving, compassionate, intuitive and humanitarian. Runs of luck, either good or bad, follow you. You are sympathetic, but at times might be touchy and oversensitive. You may have a gift for writing. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Idus's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Idus's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.