Irene
Meaning and origin
From Ancient Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirḗnē, “peace”).
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Irene (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Irene has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2005. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 4 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | – |
| 2007 | 2 |
| 2008 | 2 |
| 2009 | – |
| 2010 | – |
| 2011 | 5 |
| 2012 | – |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2015 | – |
| 2016 | 4 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2019 | – |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 3 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 10,868 |
| 2000 | 10,836 |
| 2001 | 10,789 |
| 2002 | 10,746 |
| 2003 | 10,766 |
| 2004 | 10,740 |
| 2005 | 10,602 |
| 2006 | 10,551 |
| 2007 | 10,462 |
| 2008 | 10,496 |
| 2009 | 10,380 |
| 2010 | 10,265 |
| 2011 | 10,131 |
| 2012 | 10,017 |
| 2013 | 9,876 |
| 2014 | 9,761 |
| 2015 | 9,600 |
| 2016 | 9,437 |
| 2017 | 9,265 |
| 2018 | 9,123 |
| 2019 | 8,966 |
| 2020 | 8,786 |
Irene in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Irene.Hi! My name is Irene.
- Irene har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Irene has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Irenes mamma är lärare.Irene's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Irenes mamma is Irene's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Irene
How do you pronounce Irene in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Irene from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Irene mean?
From Ancient Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirḗnē, “peace”).
How popular is Irene in Sweden?
3 babies were named Irene in 2022. In 2020, 8,786 people in Sweden had Irene as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2005 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.