Irven
An Old English name derived from the elements "iren" meaning iron and "wine" meaning friend.
Name Census estimates that about 262 living Americans carry the first name Irven. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Irven today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Irven births was 1921 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Irven. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Irven is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Irvens were born before 1961.
People living today
262
~ 1 in 1,308,223 Americans
Peak year
1921
45 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1996 SSA rank
#9,577
Tracked since 1880
Census
Irven in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 360 people with the first name Irven, which placed it at #26,062 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
#26,062
National first-name rank
People counted
360
360 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Irven
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irven is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Irven 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 Irven at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.5% · 225
- Black or African American15.8% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino15.3% · 55
- Two or more races3.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Irven: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Irven from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 309 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Irven 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 Irven during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Irvens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Iowa, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Irven, while Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Irven
The name Irven is of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Old Norse name Irvinn, which itself is a compound of the elements "ir," meaning yew tree, and "vinn," meaning friend or protector. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near or was associated with yew trees, which were considered sacred in Norse mythology.
The earliest recorded use of the name Irven dates back to the Viking Age, when it was borne by several notable figures in Scandinavian history. One such individual was Irven the Skald, a renowned poet and storyteller who lived in the 9th century and whose works were preserved in the Icelandic sagas.
Another historical figure with the name Irven was Irven Haraldsson, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the 11th century and played a pivotal role in the struggle for control of the Norwegian throne during the civil wars that followed the death of King Harald Hardrada.
In the 12th century, an Icelandic scholar and historian named Irven Thorvaldsson wrote a comprehensive chronicle of the Norse settlements in Greenland and Vinland, providing invaluable insights into the exploration and colonization efforts of the Vikings in North America.
During the Middle Ages, the name Irven also appeared in various Germanic regions, including Sweden, Denmark, and parts of northern Germany. One notable bearer of the name was Irven von Mecklenburg, a German knight who fought in the Crusades and was renowned for his bravery on the battlefield.
In more recent times, the name Irven has been less common, but a few individuals of note have borne it. One such person was Irven Olson, an American journalist and author who lived from 1884 to 1963 and wrote extensively about the history and culture of the Scandinavian-American community in the United States.
People
Irven + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Irven 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
Irven: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Irven?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 262 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Irven 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 1,308,223 US residents.
Is Irven a common name?
We classify Irven as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,086 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Irven most popular?
The single biggest year for Irven was 1921, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Irven is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Irven in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 360 people with the name Irven, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,062 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 Irven 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 Irven?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Irven appears almost entirely male. Of the 360 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Irven?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irven is White at 62.5%. The next largest groups are Black (15.8%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Irven most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Irven in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.5% (225 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 Irven in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Irven a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Irven in the SSA data are male. 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 Irven still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Irven 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 Irven 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 named Irven?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.