Name of the Week

In a garden full of Poppys, Daisys and Lilys
Iris stands out with her gentle elegance and flapper vintage charm.
And unlike other flowers, this lady is also an ancient goddess.

 

Origin:

Iris comes from the Ancient Greek iris meaning "rainbow." Appropriately, Iris was the name given to the Greek goddess (or more specifically the personification) of the rainbow. She was also a messenger to the gods, most likely due to the similarity of the Greek words iris "rainbow" and eiris "messenger."  Her father Thaumas was a water god, her mother Elektra a cloud-nymph and as far as the Greeks were concerned, Iris united the two elements through her rainbow arcs by taking water up to the clouds to replenish the rain. She was also the handmaiden to Hera and, as such, she is often depicted by the queen of the gods' side.  Her epithets included Khrysopteron "Golden-Winged," Aellôpos "Storm-Footed" and Junonia "envoy of Juno/Hera," and she made appearances in numerous epics and plays. Ovid says of her: "Iris, in her thousand hues enrobed traced through the sky her arching bow . . . Iris entered, and the bright sudden radiance of her robe lit up the hallowed place ..." (Metamorphoses 11. 585 ff). And Virgil described her as: "Soaring to heaven on balanced wings, [Iris] blazed a rainbow trail beneath the clouds as she flew ... Iris, glory of the sky, cloud-borne" (Aeneid 9. 2 ff). The iris flower was so named in the late 14th century thanks to the number of colours of its different species. The iris of the eye was similarly named because of the many colours of eye shades.

Usage:

From the late 16th century, a handful of birth, marriage and death records can be found for the name Iris. Examples are extremely rare, and it remained this way for the following two centuries. In 1611, William Shakespeare's The Tempest was staged, including three Roman goddesses: Juno, Ceres and Iris, but this was not enough to spark usage of the name.  Iris is really a prime example of a name which goes from obscurity to a household name. Between 1838 and 1880 only 36 girls were registered with the name in England and Wales. None were registered in 1870, 7 were registered in 1880, but by 1890 41 girls were given the name, ranking around #253. In 1900 the name rose to #158 and, in a meteoric leap that only of-the-moment names can manage, it had broken the Top 100 four years later at #92. Over the course of the 19th century, Iris rocketed up the charts only to later decline, leaving the Top 100 by the 1950s. 1914: #58 1924: #34 1934: #30 1944: #70 This curve of popularity, ties in very nicely with Leslie Dunkling's data for the number of girls registered with the name Iris in every 10,000 births in England and Wales, which shows that Iris peaked around the late 1920s:  1900 1925  1935 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990     7     94     66     4    4    5     -     -     -     -     -     - But, as a vintage gem which fits the current fashion for floral names, Iris is having yet another resurgence in popularity. Only 8 babies (#1914) were called Iris in England and Wales in 1996 and this situation stayed much the same for the next five years. Iris first started on its upward curve in 2001 when it re-entered the Top 1000 (#710, 35 births) and finally reached the Top 200 in 2009 with 264 births (#195). In 2012 Iris ranked #122 with 476 births. Iris has also been risng in Scotland, from #270 in 2010, #238 in 2011, #174 in 2012, to #140 in 2013.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Iris Adrian (1912–1994), American actress * Dame Iris Murdoch DBE (1919–1999), Irish-born British author and philosopher. Contemporary: * Iris Johansen (b. 1938), American author. * Iris Berben (b. 1950), German actress. * Iris DeMent (b. 1961), American singer. Literature and Media: * Iris, a character in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest (1611). Other: * 7 Iris, an asteroid

Variants:

Irys, Irissa; Eirys (Welsh)

Pronunciation:

Ī-ris [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Ice, Issy

Sibling Names:

Elsa     Violet     Clara     Polly     Esther     Nancy  Hugo     Albert      Felix     Ned     Jasper     Rex

Name Lists:

Vintage   Victorian Darlings   Shakespearean Names   Names from Tennyson   Gods and Goddesses   Operatic Names     Butterfly Names

 

If you like Iris you may also like:  Zinnia, Ivy, Elestren, Olive, Elsie, Beatrice, Nancy, Lilian, Vera, Flora

 

Thanks to Kiri for requesting this post.