"I" Love Names!

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!"

I've been hearing a several names starting with the letter I recently. I'm in general not too wild about I names as I gravitate more towards A, E and the constanants (especially C, S, L and J).
But as I hear these names used, weather on people I've met, on TV, or online, I've been thinking of all the names I do like that begin with I. Here's just a sampling:

Boys:

• Ira - I've heard this name on two different men recently and rather like it. We don't see it used much anymore and I think it could gain as much popularity as Isaac or Isaiah have.
• Ike - I met an quirky, off the wall teen boy by this name at camp this summer. His bright eyes and lively personality were totally different than the image I've always had of Ike being a stodgy old farmer or old time politician. I don't think Ike was his real name (probably something like Richard), but it actually suited him and the short spunk of the name came across to me. I now like it as a nickname for Isaac / Isaak and hope to see more of it.
• Irving - a friend's husband is named Clarence Irving, isn't that awful but so totally old-fashioned and charming at the same time? For some reason that even his wife doesn't know, he's always been called Mike. Mikey when he was young and the name just stuck so he's Mike now which really suits him much better! I'm not a big fan of this name but it certainly had a strong sound.
  
• Ian - I've always loved this name and was very pleased to hear it being used more in my social circle, once as a middle name, once as a first name. My friends who I worked with this summer named their first son Ian William last year and he had just turned a year old when I saw them in June. Their last name is Walker and the mother told me that she had seriously considered naming her son Luke Skye! I think it actually would have been cute never mind the Star Wars connection. I really like Ian William and I think they might possibly have chosen a W for his middle name because his paternal grandfather's first name begins with W. Little Ian changed the image of the name a bit for me, from bold handsome Scotsman with unruly dark hair, to a blond haired boy with big ears, bright blue eyes, a big smile and a personality all his own. :)
  

Girls:

• Ivy - I've seen Ivy a couple times this summer. My mom's friends have a little granddaughter named Ivy Dawn who I saw recently, she just turned four. I also admire her cousin's names Peter Ian and Joy Abigail, they're so...normal! :) Ivy is sweet but I always think poisin ivy and an exotic dancer when I hear this name so I tend to prefer Evie to Ivy.
• Isabelle - I know it is popular but it is pretty. A friend just named her 8th child Chloe Isabelle. She had mentioned to me that she liked Isabella because it came from Jane Austen's novels. But when she mentioned the name to her 10-year-old daughter she said "Not Isabella mommy. In books Isabella is always the bad lady!" But she must have liked the name enough to have used Isabelle anyway. I think it's pretty and as a middle name it's nice. By the by I'm liking Chloe more and more now, scary!
  
• India - I heard this name on a Jepordy contestant. In general I dislike this name and Indiana because they are place names. India to me would seem to belong to a forein woman with dark hair, bright eyes and a sense of adventure or to a trendy designer so on this lady the name had an odd appearance as she was 40ish with plain brown hair and nothing very interesting about her, kind of a quiet sort. Funny what people name their kids even if it's unpopular, not at all befitting their lifestyle or especially doesn't suit their child at all!
• Ireleigh - a little girl at church has this name. She's so cute at four with her blond hair and wide blue eyes and ever charming smile and speech inpediment. Her mother said a friend named Leigh had said it was her favorite that she didn't get to use only she spelled it Ireley. So the mother changed the spelling to Ireleigh to honor her friend who suggested it. I think it's cute though it is made up, it sounds pettier than it looks.
  
  
  "So?...what?...no ice cream then?"
  
  

So, some of my favorite I names, most of which I probably won't ever use:

Boys:
Iain
Ioan
Israel
Ignatius
Ichabod (crazy, I know)
Ishmael
Innis

Girls:
Irene (which I might use)
Isolde
Irina
Imogen "Immy"
Imelda "Immy"
Iris
Isabella
Isobel
Iliana
Isla
Ireland (yes, a place name but it's the place I like)

What are your favorite name that begin with the letter I? Have you met or do you know someone with and of these names? How do they like their names? What other I names have you heard recently?