Iris

Parents drawn to Iris usually describe the same thing — it just feels settled. At its root, Iris means "Rainbow", an old idea that still resonates with parents looking for substance under the sound. It comes out of the Greek naming tradition, where it accumulated centuries of literary and family use before crossing into broader English use. Our reviewers flagged Iris as a strong "first introduction" name: it teaches and reads cleanly in print, on a name tag, and over the phone.

Iris holds steady in the top 1,000 of US name rankings, which is to say it's distinctive but not obscure. Compared with names of similar style, Iris has held its rank more consistently — a quiet sign of long-term durability. Phonetically, Iris has the soft-consonant softness parents tend to gravitate toward, but with enough structure to age well. Parents who love Iris often also weigh Irish, Irene, Isis — and the Iris name page below covers nicknames, sibling pairings, and pronunciation in detail.