Iris
From Greek, where it meant rainbow: the name of the goddess who carried word across it between gods and mortals. In Poland it stays rare, given to just a handful of girls a year and never to boys.
Iris Pronunciation
Iris is pronounced EE-rees (/ˈiris/).
What Iris means
Where Iris comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Iris comes from Greek, where it meant rainbow. In the old myths Iris was the goddess of the rainbow and a messenger who carried word between gods and mortals. Her name later settled on the flower with the many-colored petals, and then on the iris of the eye. The word for the eye's iris comes from the same rainbow sense. So one small word spread from the rainbow itself to the flower and the eye.
The Polish word for that first sense is tęcza.
A girl named Iris in a Warsaw class register sits among the Zuzannas and Julias, shorter than the names around her. The root stays Greek. The name takes no Polish diminutive of its own, and what it hands her is old and exact: rainbow.
How many people are named Iris
1 in 79943 women in Poland is named Iris. 282 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1810 among female names.
Iris's popularity over time
2 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1610 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2015.
Where Iris is most popular
Iris is most popular in Łódź, 265% above the national average (3 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+239%) and Lublin (+201%). It is least common in Masovian, 13% below average.
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Łódź3 girls born+265%
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Silesian5 girls born+239%
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Lublin2 girls born+201%
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Lower Silesian2 girls born+96%
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Masovian2 girls born−13%
Iris as a middle name
Iris is a first name for 282 women in Poland and a middle name for another 138, a 67/33 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 554th, between Alojza (138) and Edmunda (137).
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#552 Ellen140
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#553 Alojza138
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#554 Iris138
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#555 Edmunda137
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#556 Jasmine137