Iris

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled איריס in IL Israel, FR France.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Iris is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name1.1M records spelled Iris27 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil

  Languages: English, German, Western Frisian

  Also written Iriş, Íris, Ir'Is, Irís, Irïs

• French given name109K records spelled Iris6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, Netherlands

  Also written Íris, Irïs, Iriş, Irîs, Irís

• a separate given name63K records spelled Iris5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada

  Also written Íris, Īrīs, Irís, Iriş

• Finnish given name27K records spelled Iris7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, United States

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Airis, Íris

• Croatian given name17K records spelled Iris70 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, United States, Kazakhstan, Russia

  Languages: Croatian, Russian, Kazakh

  Also written Аирис, Айрис, Ирис, Ірис, Iiris

• Albanian given name4.0K records spelled Iris2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Íris

• Portuguese given name3.8K records spelled Iris35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Laos, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Portuguese, Lao, Thai

  Also written Airis, ไอรุส, ไอริส, Ai-Ris, Airit

74 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Iris is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Greek; from Iris, the winged messenger goddess of Olympus and rainbow personification.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Greek: ‘rainbow’. See main dictionary. APPENDIX: GERMAN APPENDIX: GERMAN Irma @ Short form of any of the feminine names formed with Irmen- ‘totality’, ‘everything’, ‘all’. See also ERMEN-. Irmengard ? Variant of ERMENGARD. Also: Irmgard, Irmingard.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A plant of the genus Iris, common in the northern hemisphere, and generally having attractive blooms (See Iris (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Portuguese, Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of íris.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Iris är ett grekiskt namn, identiskt med ordet iris ’regnbåge’. I den grekiska mytologin är Iris regnbågens gudinna. Ordet är också en benämning på ögats regnbågshinna och på växten svärdslilja. Iris har blivit ett populärt namn de senaste årtiondena. I den rikssvenska almanackan 10 februari och i den finlandssvenska 14 november.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Iris Adrianb. 1912USAmerican actress (1912–1994)
• Iris Murdochb. 1919GBIrish-born British writer and philosopher (1919–1999)
• Iris Mountbattenb. 1920GBnoblewoman; English actress and model (1920-1982)
• Iris Apfelb. 1921USAmerican interior designer and fashion icon (1921–2024)
• Xiomara Castrob. 1959HNnot in their usual nameHonduran politician and businesswoman (born 1959)
• Iris Changb. 1968USChinese-American journalist and author of historical books (1968–2004)
• Clara Pagetb. 1988GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress
• Iris Mittenaereb. 1993FRFrench beauty pageant winner (born 1993)
• Iris Lawb. 2000GBBritish model
• Iris Apatowb. 2002USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,664 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Iris?

We estimate roughly 206 thousand people bear Iris (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Iris have the most bearers?

Iris is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled iris.

Where is Iris most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Iris is densest in Iceland — about 1 in 269 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Iris compared with other names?

In Argentina, Iris is the 390th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Iris a male or female name?

Iris is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Iris mean?

Recorded meaning: Latin Iris from Greek, the rainbow goddess and divine messenger; originally 'cinta' or 'ruta'.