Irene
Meaning
peace
The story
Irene comes from the Greek Eirene, from a word meaning "peace": the goddess who personified it, several early saints, and, Behind the Name notes, an 8th-century Byzantine empress, the first woman to lead that empire. The American record is one of the great early-century mountains: about 13,600 girls in the 1890s, about 69,000 in the 1910s, about 92,800 in the 1920s, and then a decline in which every completed decade since has landed below the one before, down to about 2,700 so far in this one. Brazil holds about 109,100 Irenes with a median age of 63, about 30,100 of them born in the 1950s alone. A peace name worn by an empress and a goddess, still arriving on both sides of the equator in smaller, steadier numbers.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Irene peaked in the 1900s and the 1920s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
109,806 people · the #299 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,848 · median age 63
Among people named Irene living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1950s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 155 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Irene
People given the name Irene in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1989. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Irene deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Irene truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Irene fits with your family’s names and surname.
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