Irby
A masculine name of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning "green wood stream".
Name Census estimates that about 348 living Americans carry the first name Irby. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Irby today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Irby births was 1916 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Irby. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Irby is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Irbys were born before 1963.
People living today
348
~ 1 in 984,926 Americans
Peak year
1916
39 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1991 SSA rank
#4,956
Tracked since 1896
Census
Irby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 433 people with the first name Irby, which placed it at #22,843 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#22,843
National first-name rank
People counted
433
433 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Irby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irby is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Irby described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Irby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.6% · 310
- Black or African American23.1% · 100
- Two or more races2.3% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Irby
Irby leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 26 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Irby as a male name
- Ranked #8,720 in 1991
- 5 male births in 1991
- Peak: 1918 (37 births)
Irby as a female name
- Ranked #4,956 in 1943
- 5 female births in 1943
- Peak: 1916 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Irby leans strongly male. 395 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 32 female bearers (7.5%).
Popularity
Irby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Irby from the 1890s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 266 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Irby by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Irby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Irbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Alabama, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Irby, while South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 45 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Irby
The name Irby is believed to have its origins in Old Norse, deriving from the word "Irisby," which roughly translates to "town of the Irish people." This suggests that the name may have been used to refer to settlements or towns established by Irish settlers in parts of what is now England or Scotland during the Viking era, around the 9th to 11th centuries.
While the exact origin of the name is not entirely clear, it is thought to be related to the Old Norse word "Ír," meaning "Irishman," and the suffix "-by," which denotes a town or village. This connection to Irish settlers or communities in areas of Norse influence lends the name a unique historical significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Irby can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a place called "Irebi" in Lincolnshire, which is believed to be derived from the same root as the name Irby.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Irby. One such figure was Irby Randolph (1630-1689), a prominent landowner and politician in colonial Virginia. Another was Irby Aubrey Hudson (1836-1896), a American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives.
In the realm of literature, Irby Goodnight (1919-2004) was an American author and educator known for her children's books, including "Molly Bannaky" and "Across the Bright Lonesome." Additionally, Irby Brown (1924-2015) was an American football player who played professionally for the Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another notable figure was Irby C. Curry (1925-2008), an American artist and educator who served as the president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1983 to 1998. His artwork, which focused on abstract expressionism, was exhibited in numerous galleries and museums throughout his career.
While the name Irby may have roots in Old Norse and connections to Irish settlements, it has since been adopted and used across various cultures and regions. Its unique history and enduring presence throughout the centuries make it a fascinating name to explore from an etymological perspective.
People
Irby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Irby as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Irby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Irby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 348 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Irby going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 984,926 US residents.
Is Irby a common name?
We classify Irby as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,130 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Irby most popular?
The single biggest year for Irby was 1916, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Irby is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Irby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 433 people with the name Irby, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,843 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Irby in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Irby?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Irby leans strongly male. 395 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 32 female bearers (7.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Irby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Irby is White at 71.6%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Two or More Races (2.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Irby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Irby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.6% (310 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Irby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Irby a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Irby in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Irby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Irby in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Irby can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Irby?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.