Irene

What Irene means

Means “peace”

Borrowed from French Irène, from Ancient Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirḗnē, “peace”), name of a goddess of peace, of early Christian saints, and of an 8th-century Byzantine empress.

Source: Wiktionary, “Irene” (revision 93588071), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Irene?

US: Steady: #629 in 2015, #651 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1497 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1916, when 9,035 girls got the name (#17 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 3,636 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 7,449 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NE (0.85 per 1,000 girls), OR (0.69 per 1,000 girls), CT (0.61 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Irene is #651 in the US and #997 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Irene were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Eirene15 US
• Eren7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Irene

Girls

• Margaret#112“pearl”^*
• Teresa#908Editor’s note Down from #664 in 2015 to #908 in 2025 in the US
• Veronica#427Form of Berenice, meaning “bringer of victory”^*
• Cassandra#630Editor’s note Down from #512 in 2015 to #630 in 2025 in the US
• Melissa#419“bee, honey, or honeybee”^*
• Sara#198Variant of Sarah, meaning “masters, princes”^*

For a brother

• Peter#187“stone, rock”^*
• Eugene#943“well born”^*
• Philip#527“fond of horses”^*
• Stephen#383“crown, wreath”^*
• Phillip#651Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 6,047 babies; 425 in 2025
• George#126“farmer, earth worker”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Irene’s. Rank is US 2025.