Head to head · Girls' names
Irene vs Rosa
#651 vs #652 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Irene is a whisker ahead (#651 vs #652 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Irene leads 4 measures of 6; Rosa leads 0.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Irene #86, Rosa #58 — Rosa higher
- 1890s: Irene #45, Rosa #71 — Irene higher
- 1900s: Irene #25, Rosa #78 — Irene higher
- 1910s: Irene #19, Rosa #106 — Irene higher
- 1920s: Irene #21, Rosa #126 — Irene higher
- 1930s: Irene #53, Rosa #140 — Irene higher
- 1940s: Irene #93, Rosa #154 — Irene higher
- 1950s: Irene #141, Rosa #171 — Irene higher
- 1960s: Irene #218, Rosa #216 — Rosa higher
- 1970s: Irene #299, Rosa #216 — Rosa higher
- 1980s: Irene #340, Rosa #240 — Rosa higher
- 1990s: Irene #431, Rosa #261 — Rosa higher
- 2000s: Irene #563, Rosa #397 — Rosa higher
- 2010s: Irene #649, Rosa #626 — Rosa higher
- 2020s: Irene #652, Rosa #646 — Rosa higher
Rosa stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Rosa has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Irene | Rosa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #86 | #58 |
| 1890s | #45 | #71 |
| 1900s | #25 | #78 |
| 1910s | #19 | #106 |
| 1920s | #21 | #126 |
| 1930s | #53 | #140 |
| 1940s | #93 | #154 |
| 1950s | #141 | #171 |
| 1960s | #218 | #216 |
| 1970s | #299 | #216 |
| 1980s | #340 | #240 |
| 1990s | #431 | #261 |
| 2000s | #563 | #397 |
| 2010s | #649 | #626 |
| 2020s | #652 | #646 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Irene
Not charting outside the US.
Rosa
- Scotland#86
- England & Wales#94
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Irene
peace
The Greek word is the ordinary term for peace, still current in modern Greek, and the reading is settled. It was a personal name in antiquity as well as an abstraction, which is unusual: most Greek names are compounds, and a bare common noun used as a name stands out in that company.
The Greek common noun for peace → A goddess with a statue of peace holding wealth → An early Christian name across the Greek world → Irene in English use since the Renaissance
How it traveled
Three sisters were executed at Thessalonica during the last great persecution for refusing to give up their books. The order had gone out that Christian writings were to be surrendered and burned, and the sisters had hidden a collection of them; the surviving account of their trial is unusually detailed, and much of it is the interrogation of the youngest about where the books were and who had helped her.
Rosa
Rose, or horse
The obvious reading is the Latin word for the flower, and that is how the name has been understood for centuries. Some of the medieval bearers, though, carry names built on a Germanic element hros, a horse, which produced Rosamund and Roswitha, and the two sources fell together early. Which is behind any particular family cannot be recovered.
rosa → Rosa
How it traveled
She corrected the account herself, repeatedly and in print. She wrote that the only tired she was, was tired of giving in, and she pointed out that a fifteen-year-old had been arrested for the same thing nine months earlier and that the organization had decided the girl was not the right test case.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Irene
eye-REEN
Two syllables in America with the stress in the middle. Greek, Italian and German all say it with three and sound the final vowel, so a bearer traveling in Europe will hear her name given an extra syllable everywhere she goes.
- Renie — The back softened, warm and used inside families.
- Rene — The back, which is also a French name of its own.
- Ira — Built from the front, and a complete name in its own right.
Rosa
ROH-zuh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The s between vowels is voiced as a z in English, Italian and Spanish alike; Polish writes the z outright, which is the more honest spelling.
- Rosie — The name softened; warm, and a complete given name in its own right.
- Ro — One syllable; short, unisex and completely modern.
- Rosita — The Spanish diminutive; affectionate and used as a full name in its own right.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Irene if you want…
- a name holding steadyIrene is holding its place on the charts
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Rosa
Choose Rosa if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooRosa is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowRosa is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Irene
Strengths
- The meaning is a single word and is the same in modern Greek today.
- It is used essentially unchanged across most of Europe.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
To consider
- The two-syllable and three-syllable readings are both correct somewhere.
- It is strongly associated with the earlier twentieth century.
- Irena and Irina are close enough to be written for it constantly.
Rosa
Strengths
- Spelled identically in Italian, Spanish and German and almost so in Polish.
- Four letters, no silent ones, and no possible ambiguity about how to say it.
- The meaning is concrete, pleasant and understood everywhere.
To consider
- The record carries it for boys in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- The flower reading is the assumed one and may not be the true one for a given family.
- It is strongly established as an older woman's name in American ears, though that is shifting.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Irene
12%chance Irene feels dated by 2040
Irene has held the top-100 across 7 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Rosa
40%chance Rosa feels dated by 2040
Rosa sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Irene and Rosa in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Irene and Rosa?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Irene and Rosa — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Irene or Rosa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Irene or Rosa?
- Irene, in 2025: Irene ranked #651 with 442 babies; Rosa ranked #652 with 441 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Irene or Rosa?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Irene moved down 33 places; Rosa moved down 22 places.
- Which is the older name, Irene or Rosa?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Irene and Rosa?
- About 103,000 people named Irene are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 94,000 people named Rosa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Irenes or Rosas in the classroom?
- Irene will almost certainly be the only one in school. Rosa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Irene, Rosa and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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