Irene

Where Irene comes from

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. Doublet of Eirini.
— Wiktionary's entry for Irene
  • Ancient Greek
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #102 among girls — 204 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1898
    Irene Dunne born
    American actress and singer
  3. 1918
    Peak, #16
    9,774 babies named Irene — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1933
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #46.
  5. 1959
    Irene Cara born
    American singer and actress
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Ancient Greek, in regular use since the 19th century.
Namesakes
  • Irene Dunne · American actress and singer, 1898–1990
  • Irene Cara · American singer and actress, 1959–2022
  • Irene Doukaina · Empress consort of the Byzantine Empire, 1066–1123
  • Irene Paredes · Spanish footballer, born 1991
  • Irene Angelina · Byzantine queen, 1181–1208

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.