# Irwin (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/irwin/  
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 | “boar”, “friend” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɝwɪn/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Erwin |
| US babies named this | 15,958 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 15,946 / 12 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From a medieval given name Erwin, from Eoforwine, from Old English eofor (“boar”) + wine (“friend”), the latter of which is from Proto-West Germanic *wini.

## What it means

Irwin is grouped under friend.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 5 | 5,170 |
| 1925 | 7 | 4,206 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 27 | 3,832 |
| 2012 | 26 | 3,941 |
| 2013 | 9 | 8,367 |
| 2014 | 12 | 6,800 |
| 2015 | 18 | 5,149 |
| 2016 | 16 | 5,649 |
| 2017 | 12 | 6,857 |
| 2018 | 20 | 4,817 |
| 2019 | 20 | 4,867 |
| 2020 | 19 | 4,926 |
| 2021 | 16 | 5,633 |
| 2022 | 13 | 6,617 |
| 2023 | 6 | 11,374 |
| 2024 | 17 | 5,524 |
| 2025 | 13 | 6,600 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |

## People named Irwin

- Irwin Rose, American biologist (1926-2015)
- Irwin Shaw, American writer (1913–1984)
- Irwin Keyes, American character actor (1952-2015)
- Irwin Allen, film producer (1916-1991)
- Irwin Winkler, American motion picture producer, motion picture director, screenwriter
- Irwin Corey, American comedian and actor (1914–2017)
- Irwin M. Jacobs, American electrical engineer and philanthropist
- Irwin I. Shapiro, American astrophysicist
- Irwin Kostal, American musical arranger of films (1911–1994)
- Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician
- Irwin Hoffman, American conductor (1924-2018)
- Irwin Fridovich, American biochemist (1929–2019)

## 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.