Irena

Girls’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Irena was given to 24 girls in 2025, #5,304 among girls’ names; 2,186 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 1,440 Americans named Irena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (66% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 14 and 53.

Babies named Irena each year, first recorded in 1880

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Irena or Irene Names of the 2020s Names in California

Births of Irena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Irena mean?

Wiktionary, Polish section

Irena is “a female given name, equivalent to English Irene”

Learned borrowing from Latin Īrēnē, from Ancient Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirḗnē).

/iˈrɛ.na/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Irena (Polish), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, Polish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Irena?

#5,304 among girls’ names, 2025

Irena fell from #4,528 in 2015 to #5,304 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 17.4 to 14.9 per million.

34 babies in 2024, the peak

Irena peaked in 2024, when 34 girls were given it, #4,239 among girls’ names. The 24 births of 2025 are 71% of that peak.

Irena by year
Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 girls
2025	24	#5,304	0.01
2024	34	#4,239	0.02
2023	22	#5,626	0.01
2022	23	#5,531	0.01
2021	27	#4,890	0.02
2020	31	#4,390	0.02
2019	26	#5,082	0.02
2018	33	#4,271	0.02
2017	30	#4,611	0.02
2016	30	#4,668	0.02

Every recorded year (141)

Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 girls
2015	31	#4,528	0.02
2014	23	#5,690	0.01
2013	24	#5,548	0.01
2012	29	#4,884	0.02
2011	27	#5,117	0.02
2010	23	#5,857	0.01
2009	18	#7,165	0.01
2008	18	#7,182	0.01
2007	16	#7,865	0.01
2006	14	#8,422	0.01
2005	21	#5,885	0.01
2004	20	#6,063	0.01
2003	18	#6,405	0.01
2002	21	#5,535	0.01
2001	16	#6,740	0.01
2000	21	#5,372	0.01
1999	21	#5,095	0.01
1998	23	#4,699	0.01
1997	24	#4,427	0.01
1996	21	#4,785	0.01
1995	20	#4,904	0.01
1994	19	#5,093	0.01
1993	25	#4,142	0.01
1992	28	#3,804	0.02
1991	20	#4,871	0.01
1990	11	#7,491	0.01
1989	11	#7,148	0.01
1988	18	#4,713	0.01
1987	22	#3,898	0.01
1986	16	#4,808	0.01
1985	16	#4,709	0.01
1984	15	#4,812	0.01
1983	23	#3,468	0.01
1982	22	#3,690	0.01
1981	10	#6,499	0.01
1980	14	#5,068	0.01
1979	17	#4,296	0.01
1978	10	#6,101	0.01
1977	14	#4,746	0.01
1976	16	#4,023	0.01
1975	22	#3,195	0.02
1974	16	#3,920	0.01
1973	20	#3,273	0.01
1972	17	#3,614	0.01
1971	20	#3,301	0.01
1970	20	#3,246	0.01
1969	15	#3,680	0.01
1968	17	#3,226	0.01
1967	18	#3,001	0.01
1966	13	#3,631	0.01
1965	17	#3,091	0.01
1964	12	#3,955	0.01
1963	12	#3,875	0.01
1962	10	#4,369	0.01
1961	13	#3,674	0.01
1960	10	#4,287	under 0.01
1959	14	#3,317	0.01
1958	14	#3,283	0.01
1957	13	#3,377	0.01
1956	15	#3,107	0.01
1955	17	#2,765	0.01
1954	10	#3,822	0.01
1953	16	#2,736	0.01
1952	5	#5,899	under 0.01
1951	14	#2,853	0.01
1950	8	#4,099	under 0.01
1949	11	#3,263	0.01
1948	6	#4,893	under 0.01
1947	9	#3,840	0.01
1946	12	#2,942	0.01
1945	6	#4,238	under 0.01
1944	12	#2,687	0.01
1943	7	#3,963	0.01
1942	14	#2,472	0.01
1941	6	#4,156	under 0.01
1940	8	#3,332	0.01
1939	5	#4,529	under 0.01
1938	8	#3,294	0.01
1937	12	#2,498	0.01
1936	9	#2,960	0.01
1935	13	#2,358	0.01
1934	9	#3,019	0.01
1933	8	#3,248	0.01
1932	11	#2,727	0.01
1931	9	#3,080	0.01
1930	12	#2,600	0.01
1929	18	#1,977	0.02
1928	17	#2,135	0.01
1927	13	#2,616	0.01
1926	12	#2,787	0.01
1925	14	#2,544	0.01
1924	16	#2,359	0.01
1923	12	#2,812	0.01
1922	12	#2,862	0.01
1921	9	#3,526	0.01
1920	23	#1,775	0.02
1919	33	#1,357	0.03
1918	25	#1,622	0.02
1917	25	#1,530	0.02
1916	21	#1,712	0.02
1915	18	#1,837	0.02
1914	20	#1,463	0.03
1913	12	#1,822	0.02
1912	11	#1,773	0.02
1911	7	#2,064	0.02
1910	9	#1,692	0.02
1909	13	#1,178	0.04
1908	11	#1,303	0.03
1907	6	#1,932	0.02
1906	12	#1,124	0.04
1905	11	#1,209	0.04
1904	9	#1,308	0.03
1903	9	#1,256	0.03
1902	11	#1,099	0.04
1901	11	#1,039	0.05
1900	11	#1,195	0.04
1899	11	#1,001	0.05
1898	10	#1,140	0.04
1897	9	#1,117	0.04
1896	8	#1,256	0.03
1894	5	#1,578	0.02
1893	10	#987	0.05
1892	9	#1,045	0.04
1891	12	#816	0.06
1890	10	#900	0.05
1889	7	#1,069	0.04
1887	9	#820	0.06
1885	7	#873	0.05
1883	8	#726	0.07
1882	11	#580	0.10
1880	8	#651	0.09

Download Irena’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.

Is Irena a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Irena has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 141 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).

Girls and boys named Irena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Irena, and how old are they?

1,440 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 66% of the 2,186 Americans ever recorded as Irena. The median Irena alive today is 31 years old; half are between 14 and 53.

The 2020 Census counted 6,054 people named Irena (6,046 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,353 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.

Alive today, by age

100-1091

90-9914

80-8942

70-7983

60-69109

50-59168

40-49151

30-39 (median)191

20-29196

10-19237

0-9249

Alive today, by generation

By generation
Generation	Born	Alive
Silent Generation	1928-1945	49
Baby Boomers	1946-1964	173
Generation X	1965-1980	247
Millennials	1981-1996	289
Generation Z	1997-2012	326
Generation Alpha	2013-2025	356

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Names spelled alike

Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 363,985 babies since 1880, Irena is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 608 babies (3.9%), again the third most given.

Irena and the names spelled alike
Name	Since 1880	Births 2025	Peak year
Irene	356,812	442	1921
Irina	2,425	127	2024
Irena	2,186	24	2024
Irine	1,528	under 5	1922
Iriana	632	15	2004
Irania	208	under 5	1995
Ireanna	97	under 5	2007
Ireene	97	under 5	1922

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Irena

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

Name	Recorded	1880-2025
Lovina	2,479
Daisey	2,520
Bina	1,288
Carra	1,353
Alida	4,650
Helena	40,412

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Irena and names like it

Compare Irena and IreneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
The most given names of the 2020sIrena peaked in 2024.
California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Irena since 1910.
Polish namesWiktionary’s origin for Irena: every such name, by how often it is given.
The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Irena.
The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Irena alive today were born 2013-2025.
Names starting with IMost given first.

Compare Irena with another name