Irene

The name traces to the Greek Eirēnē, the personification of peace and the name of an eighth-century Byzantine empress. English speakers adopted it during the nineteenth-century revival of classical Greek names. In the United States, it entered official birth records in 1880 as an established choice, climbing steadily into the early decades of the twentieth century.

The name reads as a person who keeps an aluminum percolator and patches screen doors without turning it into a weekend project. With an average bearer age of sixty-two and thirty-eight percent of living holders in the Baby Boomer generation, it brings to mind rotary telephones, wool cardigans, and sensible correspondence. The name peaked in 1921 at eighteenth place, meaning its original boom occurred before commercial radio took hold in American living rooms. It has since settled into a steady low rank, entirely indifferent to whether nursery school rosters consider it fashionable.