Iris (given name)
Iris is a feminine name.
The name came into use in English-speaking countries in the 1500s, first in reference to the goddess, and was later used along with other Ancient Greek names revived by 17th-century British poets, such as Doris and Phyllis. It is also used in reference to the flowering plant and likely inspired the use of other botanical names that became popular in the Anglosphere during the Victorian era.
The name has ranked among the top 100 names given to baby girls in Belgium, England, France, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United States, and Wales during the 2010s. It ranked 101st on the popularity chart in Canada in 2021, with 255 newborn Canadian girls given the name in that year.
Notable people and characters with the name include:
People
- Iris Adrian, American actress
- Iris Apfel, American interior designer
- Iris von Arnim, German fashion designer
- Iris Ashley, Irish-born British stage and film actress
- Iris Apatow, American actress
- Iris Bahr or Iris Bar-Ziv, American actress, comedian, director, writer and producer
- Iris Bannochie, Barbadian horticulturalist
- Iris Yassmin Barrios Aguilar, Guatemalan judge
- Iris Barry, American film critic
- Iris Bell, American psychologist and alternative medicine researcher
- Iris Berben, German actress
- Iris Birtwistle, English lyric poet and gallery owner
- Iris Faircloth Blitch, United States Representative from Georgia
- Iris Bohnet, Swiss academic, Professor of Public Policy
- Iris Burgoyne, South Australian author and Kokatha elder
- Iris Burton, American talent agent and dancer
- Iris Butler, English journalist and historian
- Iris Cahn, Professor of the Film Conservatory at SUNY Purchase College
- Iris Cantor, American philanthropist in medicine and the arts
- Iris Chacón, Puerto Rican entertainer
- Iris Chang, American historian
- Iris Chung, designer and model
- Iris Clert, owner of the Galerie Iris Clert
- Iris Cummings, American aviator and Olympic swimmer
- Iris Davis, American track and field sprinter
- Iris Dawnay, British aristocrat and MI6 secretary
- Iris DeBrito, Brazilian footballer
- Iris DeMent, American singer
- Iris Dexter, Australian journalist and war correspondent
- Iris Dixon, Australian cyclist
- Iris Estabrook, Democratic former member of the New Hampshire Senate
- Iris Evans, Minister of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
- Iris Falcam, American-born librarian, researcher and First Lady of Micronesia
- Iris Falcón, Peruvian volleyball player
- Iris Fernández, Argentine runner
- Iris Fontbona, Chilean businesswoman
- Iris Frederick, mother of Lynne Frederick
- Iris Fuentes-Pila, Spanish middle-distance runner
- Iris Gordy, American songwriter, producer, and music executive
- Iris Gower, Welsh novelist
- Iris Gusner, German film director and screenwriter
- Iris Habib Elmasry, Egyptian historian
- Iris Hanika, German writer and journalist
- Iris Häussler, German artist
- Iris Hensley, artistic director of the Georgia Ballet
- Iris Hoey, British actress
- Iris Holland, American politician
- Iris Jharap, Dutch cricketer
- Iris Johansen, American author
- Iris Kelso, American journalist
- Iris Winnifred King, mayor of Kingston
- Iris Klein, German beauty pageant contestant
- Iris Komar, German swimmer
- Iris Kramer, German International motorcycle trials rider
- Iris Krasnow, American author, journalism professor, and speaker
- Iris Kroes, Dutch singer-songwriter and harpist
- Iris Kyle, American professional bodybuilder
- Iris Lam Chen, Chinese-Costa Rican arts manager and curator
- Iris Le Feuvre, Jersey politician
- Iris Long, AIDS activist
- Iris Loveridge, English classical pianist
- Iris Mack, American banker, professor and writer
- Iris Maity, Indian model and actress
- Iris Martinez, Democratic member of the Illinois Senate
- Iris Meléndez, lawyer and prosecutor from Puerto Rico
- Íris Mendes, Portuguese acrobatic gymnast
- Iris Vianey Mendoza, Mexican politician and lawyer
- Iris Meredith, American actress
- Iris Mittenaere, French model, Miss Universe and Miss France 2016
- Iris Mor, Israeli newspaper editor, literary editor and writer
- Iris Mora, Mexican football forward
- Iris Morhammer, Austrian handballer
- Iris Morley, English historian, writer and journalist
- Iris Mountbatten, English actress and model, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria
- Iris Murdoch, British novelist
- Iris Nampeyo, Hopi–Tewa potter in Arizona
- Iris Nazmy, Egyptian writer, journalist and film critic
- Iris Origo, Marchesa of Val d'Orcia, a British-born biographer and writer
- Iris M. Ovshinsky, American businesswoman
- Iris Owens, pseudonym Harriet Daimler, American novelist
- Iris Parush, Israeli scholar of Hebrew literature
- Iris Peterson, American flight attendant
- Iris Plotzitzka, West German shot putter
- Iris Rainer Dart, American author and playwright
- Iris Rauskala, Austrian civil servant and politician
- Iris Rideau, American winemaker, businesswoman and activist
- Iris Riedel-Kühn, German tennis player
- Iris Robinson, Northern Irish politician
- Iris Rogers, English badminton player
- İris Rosenberger, German-Turkish swimmer
- Iris Miriam Ruíz, Puerto Rican politician
- Iris Runge, German applied mathematician and physicist
- Iris Sanchez, American politician
- Iris Santos, Dominican volleyball and beach volleyball player
- Iris Sihvonen, Finnish speed skater
- Iris Sing, taekwondo athlete from Brazil
- Iris Slappendel, Dutch road racing cyclist
- Iris Smith (wrestler), American freestyle wrestler
- Iris Smyles, American writer
- Iris Strubegger, Austrian model
- Iris Stuart, motion picture actress
- Iris Szeghy, Slovak composer
- Iris Tanner, English swimmer
- Iris Tjonk, Dutch swimmer
- Iris Tree, English poet, actress and artists' model
- Iris Vermillion, German operatic mezzo-soprano
- Iris Versari, Italian partisan who was decorated with a Gold Medal of Military Valour on 16 April 1976
- Iris Völkner, German rower
- Iris Wang, American badminton player
- Iris Wedgwood, British author, topographer and historian
- Iris Weinshall, commissioner of New York City Department of Transportation
- Iris Williams, Welsh singer
- Iris Woolcock, American artist, photographer, realtor and adventurer
- Iris Yamashita, American screenwriter
- Iris Marion Young, American political scientist
- Iris M. Zavala, Puerto Rican author, scholar, and poet
- Iris Zimmermann, American fencer
- Iris Zscherpe, German swimmer
Fictional
- Iris, a character in Ace Attorney
- Iris, a character in American Horror Story: Hotel
- Iris, a character in Andi Mack
- Iris, the main character of the series LoliRock
- Iris, a character in Mega Man X
- Iris, a Pokémon Gym Leader
- Iris, a character in Ruby Gloom
- Lady Iris, a character in The Land of Stories
- Iris Blanc/Noire, a character in Rune Factory Frontier
- Iris Clops, a character in Monster High
- Iris Henderson, a character in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes
- Iris Lark, a character in Baghead
- Iris Simpkins, a character in The Holiday
- Iris "Easy" Steensma, a character in Taxi Driver
- Iris Thompson, also known as SCP-105, a character in the SCP Foundation
- Iris West, DC Comics character
- Iris Wildthyme, a character in the expansive universe of Doctor Who
- Iris Sagan, a character in the video game AI: The Somnium Files
- Iris Verdi, an alternate identity of Lila Rossi in the animated series ''Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir''
Equivalents from other cultures
Foreign equivalents of Iris include:- Eirys
- Elestren
- Ayame