About Isis
Isis is the Greek form of an ancient Egyptian goddess’s name, possibly meaning “throne.” In English, it is pronounced EYE-sis, with two syllables and stress at the beginning. Its history reaches through Egyptian religion, Greek and Roman worship, and surviving works of art depicting a mother protecting her child.
Name and meaning
The Egyptian name is conventionally represented as Iset or Aset, while Isis comes through Greek and Latin. The proposed connection with a throne fits one of the goddess’s identifying symbols, although the name’s original meaning is not certain.
In Egyptian art, Isis can wear the throne hieroglyph on her head. This makes her recognizable even in a small amulet. Other depictions show her with a sun disc and cow horns, reflecting her association with Hathor.
Italian Iside belongs to the same name tradition. Iset preserves a form closer to the Egyptian name, while Isis is the familiar classical spelling in English.
Isis, Osiris, and Horus
In Egyptian mythology, Isis is the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus. Stories of the family connect her with mourning, protection, and the restoration of life.
Isis and her sister Nephthys care for Osiris’s body and protect the young Horus. Small amulets bring these figures together, turning a large mythological story into an object that could be worn or carried.
A frequent image shows Isis seated and nursing Horus. Statuettes of this type were dedicated in temples and shrines, often in association with Osiris and the child god. The scene makes maternal care central to the goddess’s surviving visual identity.
The divine family also had royal significance. Under the Ptolemies, depictions of Isis, Osiris, and Horus helped connect the ruling family with Egyptian traditions of kingship.
Beyond Egypt
Isis’s worship spread into the Greek and Roman worlds. Surviving objects show how Egyptian religious imagery traveled and acquired a life in new settings.
A Roman bronze sistrum in the British Museum, dated to the first or second century CE and found in or near Rome, includes a seated cat above its rattling bars. The museum associates that decoration with Isis’s worship.
The instrument gives the name a connection with ritual sound as well as sculpture. Alongside the familiar seated mother-and-child figures, it shows that the goddess’s presence in ancient culture extended into ceremonies and musical performance.
American popularity
Isis’s largest annual female total in the local SSA series was 561 in 2005, when it ranked #522. Its American use fell sharply during the mid-2010s, from 501 girls in 2013 to 53 in 2016.
In 2025, 128 girls received the spelling, placing it at #1,625. The current count is higher than that mid-2010s low but remains well below its 2005 numerical peak.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Wiktionary and Wikipedia material is adapted with attribution under CC BY-SA 4.0 where applicable. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.
- Wiktionary: Isis (English)
- U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations
- Wikidata: Isis King
- Wikidata: Isis Pogson
- Wikidata: Isis Holt
- Wiktionary: Isis
- Metropolitan Museum: Isis amulet
- Metropolitan Museum: Isis and Horus
- British Museum: sistrum
- NYU ISAW: Isis
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Isis?
In 2025, Isis ranked #1,625 among girls in the United States, with 128 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1901; its largest annual count was 561 in 2005. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.