Iroh
A predominantly masculine name of Vietnamese origin meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 299 living Americans carry the first name Iroh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Iroh today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iroh births was 2024 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iroh. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Iroh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
299
~ 1 in 1,146,336 Americans
Peak year
2024
54 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,505
Tracked since 2011
Popularity
Iroh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iroh from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 225 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iroh 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 Iroh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Irohs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Iroh, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Iroh
The name Iroh has its origins in the ancient Assyrian language, dating back to the 9th century BC. It is believed to be derived from the Akkadian words "iru" meaning "city" and "oh" meaning "protection," suggesting the name may have initially referred to someone who guarded or protected a city.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Iroh can be found in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian poem from around 2100 BC. In this epic, Iroh is the name of a minor character, a guard at the gates of the city of Uruk.
In the 6th century BC, there is evidence of an Assyrian king named Iroh II, who ruled over the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 668 to 627 BC. He is known for his military conquests and for building the famous Assyrian capital city of Nineveh.
Several centuries later, the name resurfaced in the 12th century AD with Iroh of Edessa, a prominent Armenian historian and scholar who wrote extensively about the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire.
During the Renaissance period, there was an Italian philosopher and theologian named Iroh Piccolomini (1433-1501), who served as a bishop and played a significant role in the Council of Trent.
In more recent history, Iroh Fukui (1876-1962) was a Japanese architect and engineer who designed several iconic buildings in Tokyo, including the Tokyo Station and the Imperial Hotel.
Other notable figures with the name Iroh include Iroh Hakata (1918-2008), a renowned Japanese kabuki actor who performed for over 70 years, and Iroh Mukherjee (1938-2012), an Indian artist and painter known for his abstract expressionist works.
People
Iroh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iroh 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
Iroh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iroh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 299 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iroh 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 1,146,336 US residents.
Is Iroh a common name?
We classify Iroh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 301 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iroh most popular?
The single biggest year for Iroh was 2024, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iroh is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Iroh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iroh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Iroh 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 Iroh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iroh 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 Iroh 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Iroh?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.