Irwin
Masculine · “boar friend”
Irwin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 15,946 boys against 12 girls since 1880.
Irwin is a boar's friend — which sounds odd until you remember that Anglo-Saxon naming took the boar seriously as an image of courage, and put it on helmets as well as in names.
How old is the name Irwin?
Irwin was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Irwin alive today was born around 1930, making them about 95 years old. About 4,400 people named Irwin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Irwin most popular?
Irwin peaked in 1931, reaching #245 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 6,201 places below that high. See the whole 1931 chart.
Where it comes from
From Eoforwine to Irwin
The story of Irwin
Eoforwine was an Anglo-Saxon name that survived as the surnames Irwin and Erwin, and the boar element behind it is genuine: the Sutton Hoo helmet carries boar figures, and Beowulf describes boar-crested helms. The surname crossed into given-name use in nineteenth-century America and was taken up particularly by Jewish-American families as an English-sounding name. It peaked around 1928.
Meaningscholars disagree
boar friend
The usual reading is the Old English Eoforwine — eofor, 'boar', and wine, 'friend'. A competing account derives the name from the Welsh Erwyn or from an Irish surname. The Anglo-Saxon reading is the better supported, and the boar element is well attested in other names of the period.
How the name formed
- Eoforwine
- Irwin
Related forms: Erwin · Erwin · Erwyn
Pronouncing Irwin
UR-win
Two syllables, stress on the first. Irwin and Erwin are said very nearly identically in English; German gives Erwin a clearer first vowel.
Nicknames for Irwin
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1927519 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #245reached in 1931
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%13 in 2025, from 13
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.
Irwin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Erwin in English — spelling variant
- Erwin in German — related form
- Erwyn in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Irwins among us
people named Irwin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Irwin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Elmo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Irwin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elmo climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elmo's path sketches the road Irwin is walking now.
Irwin 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Irwin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Irwin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The boar-friend meaning is vivid and connects to a documented Anglo-Saxon world of imagery.
- Irv and Win are both available and are very different in feel.
- German Erwin is a living name, so the root has a current form abroad.
- The origin is contested between Anglo-Saxon, Welsh and Irish readings.
- Irwin and Erwin are easily confused.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Irwin
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Irwins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Irwin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Irwin in 2025?
- Irwin ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Irwin?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Irwin — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Irwin with classmates?
- Irwin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Irwin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Irwin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Irwin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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