Irene comes from the Greek Eirene, the goddess of "peace", and has been a Christian name since the early martyrs. Irene of Athens ruled the Byzantine Empire in her own right around the year 800, and the name was a top 20 favorite in America in the 1910s and 1920s. In the United States Irene has stayed remarkably steady, moving between number 459 in 2000 and 651 in 2025 without ever leaving the top 700.