Irisa
An invented name meaning "determined" or "brave guardian".
Name Census estimates that about 183 living Americans carry the first name Irisa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Irisa today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Irisa births was 2013 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Irisa. 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 Irisa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
183
~ 1 in 1,872,975 Americans
Peak year
2013
15 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,105
Tracked since 1981
Census
Irisa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 249 people with the first name Irisa, which placed it at #33,298 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
#33,298
National first-name rank
People counted
249
249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Irisa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irisa is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.3%) and Hispanic (15.7%). 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 Irisa 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 Irisa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.4% · 123
- Asian and Pacific Islander17.3% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino15.7% · 39
- Black or African American9.6% · 24
- Two or more races7.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Irisa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Irisa from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 67 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Irisa 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 Irisa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Irisa
The name Irisa is of ancient Greek origin, dating back to the classical period of ancient Greece. It is believed to be derived from the Greek word "eirene," which means "peace." In Greek mythology, Eirene was the personification of peace, often depicted as a young woman carrying a cornucopia and an olive branch.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Irisa can be found in the works of the Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BC. He wrote about a woman named Irisa who was a priestess of the goddess Athena in the city of Athens.
During the Byzantine era, which spanned from the 4th to the 15th century AD, the name Irisa was relatively popular among the Greek-speaking populations of the Eastern Roman Empire. It was often given to girls born during times of peace or to commemorate the end of a conflict.
In the 9th century AD, there was a notable figure named Irisa who was a Byzantine princess and the daughter of Emperor Basil I. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and her involvement in political affairs.
Another famous bearer of the name Irisa was a 12th-century Byzantine noblewoman and historian. She wrote a chronicle of the reign of the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, providing valuable insights into the political and cultural landscape of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 16th century, there was an Italian Renaissance artist named Irisa Farnese, who was known for her exceptional skills in painting and fresco work. She was commissioned to decorate several churches and palaces in Rome and other Italian cities.
During the 18th century, a French woman named Irisa Dufour gained recognition for her poetry and literary works. She was a prominent figure in the salons of Paris and was celebrated for her wit and eloquence.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Irisa throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence across different cultures and time periods.
People
Irisa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Irisa 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
Irisa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Irisa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 183 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Irisa 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 1,872,975 US residents.
Is Irisa a common name?
We classify Irisa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 186 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Irisa most popular?
The single biggest year for Irisa was 2013, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Irisa is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Irisa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 249 people with the name Irisa, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,298 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 Irisa 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 Irisa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Irisa leans strongly female. 249 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Irisa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irisa is White at 49.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (17.3%) and Hispanic (15.7%). 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 Irisa most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Irisa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.4% (123 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 Irisa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Irisa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Irisa 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 Irisa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Irisa 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 Irisa 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 many people are called Irisa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.