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 [ 2 syll. i-re-ne, ir-ene ] The girl name Irene is pronounced ayRIYN KEY. Irene's origin is Old Greek, and its use, English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian. The name Irene means 'peaceful'. Derived from the word eirene which is of the meaning 'peace'. The name was borne in Greek mythology by a minor goddess who was the personification of peace. It was also borne by an early Christian martyr and several Byzantine empresses. The name was adopted by English speakers in the late 19th century, but it was not until the early 20th century that the name enjoyed a pick-up in popularity, primarily due to the appearance of the character Irene Forsyte in the popular John Galsworthy Forsyte Saga series of novels (1906-1921). The name was previously pronounced in Greek convention as ay.R.IY.N.IY, but English adoption has modified the pronunciation to the modern two-syllable form. Irene is the feminine version of the German Irenäus. The name Irene is used to a great extent; it has 45 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Eiren, Eirena, Eirene (also used in Greek), Erena (also used in Maori), Erene, Iren (also used in Hungarian), Irena (also used in Czech, Dutch, Polish, and Russian), Irenea (also used in Spanish), Iriana, Irien, Irin, Irina (also used in Russian), Irisha (also used in Russian), and Rina (also used in Dutch, Hebrew, Russian, Estonian, and German). Other English forms include the pet forms Aireen, Rena (also used in Greek), Rene, and Renie, and the spelling variants Ireen, Ireene, and Irine. Forms of Irene used in foreign languages include the Tongan Ailine, the Hawaiian Airina, the Russian Arina, the Russian Arinka, the Irish Eireen, the Greek Eirini, the Greek Ereni, the Italian, Latvian, and Russian Ira, the Czech Irenka, the Hungarian Irenke, the French Irène, the Hungarian Irén, the French Irénée, the Greek and Romanian Irini, the Czech and Latvian Irka, the Latvian Irusya, the Russian Iryna, the Russian Jereni, the Russian Orina, the Russian Orya, the Russian Oryna, the Russian Yarina, and the Russian Yaryna. The pet form Nitsa (German and Greek) is another foreign variant. See also the related form, the German Irenäus. Irene is an all-time favorite. Today it is still rather popular as a baby girl name, but not to the degree it was previously. At the height of its usage in 1916, 0.831% of baby girls were named Irene. It had a ranking of #17 then. The baby name has seen a substantial decline in frequency since then, and is of only modest use in recent times. In 2008, it ranked at #636 with a usage of 0.023%, but it was nevertheless the most commonly used within all girl names in its family. The name Irene has mainly been a girl name, although it has also been given to boys in the last century. There were 132 times more girls than boys who were named Irene in 1912. Baby names that sound like Irene include the English Ireen, the English Ireene, the French Irène, the English Aaren, the English Aren, the English Arin, the Gaelic Arinne, the Breton, French, and German Armelle, the Hebrew Arna, the Hebrew Arni, the Welsh Arwen, the Welsh Arwyn, the Hebrew Orna, the Russian Arina, the English Armina, the English and French Armine, the Hebrew Arnina, the Greek Eirini, the French Oriane, and the French Orianne. Details of famous persons named Irene: KEY: Pronunciation for Irene: AY as in "hide (HH.AY.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"   |
