# Irving (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/irving/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 14,896 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,433 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 20,727 people |
| Change since 2000 | +6.4% (13,997 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɝ.vɪŋ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

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

## Who carries it

Share of people named Irving in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 51% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 41% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.7% |
| Two or more races | 2.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Irving in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Irving

- Washington Irving, American writer, historian and diplomat (1783-1859)
- John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
- Kyrie Irving, American basketball player (born 1992)
- David Irving, British author and Holocaust denier (born 1938)
- Amy Irving, American actress
- George Irving, American actor, director (1874-1961)
- Clifford Irving, American author and convicted fraudster (1930-2017)
- William Irving, actor (1893-1943)
- Birk Irving, American freestyle skier
- Robert Irving III, American pianist and composer
- Richard Irving, American actor, film director and television director (1917-1990)
- Ellis Irving, Australian actor

## Similar surnames

Irvin, Irvine.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.