# Irving (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/irving/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “fresh”, “river” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɝ.vɪŋ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 44,449 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 44,364 / 85 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 16, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Variant of the Scottish habitational surname Irvine, probably from a Celtic word cognate with Welsh ir, yr (“fresh”) + afon (“river”).

## What it means

Irving is grouped under river.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1915 | 5 | 4,587 |
| 1917 | 5 | 4,919 |
| 1918 | 5 | 5,169 |
| 1920 | 7 | 4,169 |
| 1921 | 5 | 5,476 |
| 1922 | 8 | 3,819 |
| 1923 | 7 | 4,159 |
| 1924 | 5 | 5,432 |
| 1925 | 8 | 3,844 |
| 1926 | 5 | 5,206 |
| 1927 | 7 | 4,042 |
| 1928 | 10 | 3,037 |
| 1930 | 8 | 3,486 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 121 | 1,379 |
| 2012 | 115 | 1,442 |
| 2013 | 129 | 1,332 |
| 2014 | 113 | 1,448 |
| 2015 | 100 | 1,605 |
| 2016 | 139 | 1,308 |
| 2017 | 141 | 1,287 |
| 2018 | 123 | 1,423 |
| 2019 | 120 | 1,456 |
| 2020 | 92 | 1,699 |
| 2021 | 94 | 1,731 |
| 2022 | 104 | 1,659 |
| 2023 | 97 | 1,721 |
| 2024 | 105 | 1,624 |
| 2025 | 90 | 1,783 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3 | 2,859 |
| 2004 | 3 | 3,651 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3,987 |
| 2014 | 3 | 4,632 |
| 2024 | 3 | 5,119 |

## People named Irving

- Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist (1881–1957)
- Irving Berlin, American composer and lyricist (1888–1989)
- Irving Thalberg, American film producer (1899-1936)
- Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (1867–1947)
- Irving Stone, American writer (1903–1989)
- Irving Penn, American photographer and photojournalist (1917–2009)
- Irving Cummings, actor, film director (1888–1959)
- Irving Baxter, American athletics competitor (born 1876)
- Irving Kristol, American columnist, journalist, and writer (1920–2009)
- Irving Wallace, American writer (1916-1990)
- Irving Pichel, actor, film director (1891-1954)
- Chester Irving Barnard, American businessman (1886–1961)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.