Iris
A feminine name derived from the Greek word for "rainbow".
Name Census estimates that about 67,875 living Americans carry the first name Iris. It sits at #71 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Iris today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iris births was 2024 (3,140 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Kristi (67,813).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iris. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Iris with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Iris is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 757 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
68K
~ 1 in 5,050 Americans
Peak year
2024
3,140 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#71
Tracked since 1880
Census
Iris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 80,802 people with the first name Iris, which placed it at #655 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#655
National first-name rank
People counted
81K
80,802 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
26.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
46.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Iris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iris is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Black (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Iris described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Iris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino46.3% · 37,387
- White33.9% · 27,394
- Black or African American10.0% · 8,062
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.5% · 5,223
- Two or more races2.8% · 2,261
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 475
Gender
Gender distribution for Iris
Out of the 98,551 babies given the name Iris since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Iris as a male name
- Ranked #5,737 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (24 births)
Iris as a female name
- Ranked #71 in 2024
- 3,124 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (3,124 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iris appears almost entirely female. Of the 80,798 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Iris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iris from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 15,385 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iris by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Iris during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Iris' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Iris, while Wyoming, Delaware, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,817 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Iris
The name Iris has its origins in the Greek language and culture, tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "iris," which refers to the rainbow and was also the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow, messenger of the gods, and personification of the rainbow. The name Iris may have also been connected to the iris flower, which was significant in Greek mythology.
In Greek mythology, Iris was the personification of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods who traveled on the arc of the rainbow between the heavens and the earth. She was often depicted as a beautiful young woman with golden wings and a cloak of many colors. The name Iris is mentioned in various ancient Greek texts, including Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, where she played a role in delivering messages between the gods and mortals.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Iris dates back to the 5th century BC, when a Greek woman named Iris was mentioned in an ancient inscription from the island of Thasos. The name gained popularity in ancient Greece and continued to be used throughout the Hellenistic and Roman eras.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Iris. One of the most famous was Iris of Eritrea (c. 3rd century AD), a philosopher and mathematician who lived during the Roman period. Another was Iris Merryweather (1759-1822), an English botanist and naturalist known for her work on plant classification.
Other historical figures with the name Iris include:
- Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), a British novelist and philosopher.
- Iris Apfel (born 1921), an American businesswoman and fashion icon.
- Iris Chang (1968-2004), an American historian and journalist.
- Iris van Herpen (born 1984), a Dutch fashion designer known for her avant-garde designs.
The name Iris has maintained its appeal throughout the centuries, thanks to its beautiful and symbolic meaning, as well as its connection to Greek mythology and ancient history. While its popularity has ebbed and flowed over time, the name continues to be used today, often chosen for its unique and enchanting quality.
People
Iris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iris as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Iris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67,875 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iris going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,050 US residents.
Is Iris a common name?
We classify Iris as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 98,551 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iris most popular?
The single biggest year for Iris was 2024, when 3,140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iris is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Iris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 80,802 people with the name Iris, or 26.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #655 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Iris in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Iris?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iris appears almost entirely female. Of the 80,798 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Iris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iris is Hispanic at 46.3%. The next largest groups are White (33.9%) and Black (10.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Iris most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Iris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.3% (37,387 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Iris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iris a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Iris in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Iris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iris in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Iris can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Iris?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Iris at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.