Irby
Masculine · “Farm of the Irishmen”
Irby is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,104 boys against 26 girls since 1880.
A bylaw is the law of a town, not a secondary one. The first half is the Norse word for a settlement, the same word that ends this name and ends Derby, Whitby and Grimsby, and the modern sense of a lesser rule is a misunderstanding that took hold once nobody recognized the first element any more.
How old is the name Irby?
Irby first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Irby alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Irby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Irby most popular?
Irby peaked in 1896, reaching #982 nationally. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Irabyr to Irby
The story of Irby
The Norse who settled north-west England often arrived by way of Ireland rather than straight across the North Sea. They had been in Dublin and the Irish Sea kingdoms for a generation or more, they came with Irish speech, Irish wives and Irish habits, and the places they founded got named for that by the neighbors. The evidence is in the place names and in the sculpture: crosses in Cumbria and the Wirral carry Scandinavian carving with Irish detail on the same stone. Two of the villages called Irby are within sight of the Irish Sea, which is exactly where the story predicts they would be.
Meaning
Farm of the Irishmen
An English place name and surname, from the Old Norse for Irish and the Norse word for a farm or settlement. It records people rather than geography: a settlement whose inhabitants were notable for having come from Ireland, in a district where most of the neighbors had come directly from Scandinavia.
How the name formed
- Irabyr
- Irby
Pronouncing Irby
UR-bee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The i is said as the ordinary English vowel before an r, which is the same sound the language gives to er and ur in that position.
Nicknames for Irby
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 191837 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #982reached in 1896
- Change vs 1983
- 0.0%5 in 1991, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Irbys among us
people named Irby are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Irby sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Four letters, two syllables, and nothing that can be mispronounced.
- The place behind it is real and its history is documented.
- The record carries it for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- It reads as a surname and will be entered in the wrong column.
- It belongs to the oldest layer of the American record and reads that way.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Irby to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Irby? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Irby
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Irbys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Irby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Irby in 2025?
- Irby is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Irby with classmates?
- Irby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isaac#47 · Ian#83 · Isaiah#57 · Ivan#162 · Israel#315 · Ira#819 · Irving#1778 · Ismael#263
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Irby? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Irby and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle