Irene
Irene is ranked 638th among girls in 2024 (461 births). Its best rank was 16th, in 1918–1919.
- Rank in 2024
- #638up 37 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 4610.03% of girls
- Peak year
- 192110,624 births
- Best rank
- #16first in 1918
- Since 1880
- 356,354people given the name
The story in the numbers
355,004 girls have been named Irene in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1921, with 10,624 births — 0.86% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 461 births in 2024, against 10,624 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1926, and the 1920s alone account for 26%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 64 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,350 boys have also been given it, 0.38% of the total.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Irene | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 4,002 | |
| 1890s | 13,621 | |
| 1900s | 23,656 | |
| 1910s | 68,968 | |
| 1920s | 92,836 | |
| 1930s | 44,448 | |
| 1940s | 31,822 | |
| 1950s | 26,978 | |
| 1960s | 15,446 | |
| 1970s | 8,289 | |
| 1980s | 7,103 | |
| 1990s | 5,968 | |
| 2000s | 5,148 | |
| 2010s | 4,465 | |
| 2020s | 2,254 |
In 1921, its biggest year
Irene was the 18th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1921 were Mary, Dorothy, Helen, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1921.
Names that rose and fell with Irene
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Eunicepeak 1921
- Ruthpeak 1920
- Helenpeak 1918
- Marionpeak 1924
- Alinepeak 1920
- Vernapeak 1918
- Adellpeak 1921
- Fernpeak 1918
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.