Comments for IRENE:

The older pronunciation (still used to some extent in England, I believe) is ie-REE-nee.

-- Kosta  2/10/2005

My great aunt Irene pronounced it i-REE-nee.

-- tilly  8/17/2005

Irene was the baptismal name of Arlene Dietrich.

-- Anonymous User  9/19/2005

A famous bearer of this name is Princess Irene of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She is the sister of queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

-- Anonymous User  11/16/2005

In Portuguese this name is pronounced "EE-rehn".

-- Ritakins  11/19/2005

A famous bearer is Irene Cara.

-- wiswina  12/4/2005

I think it is a beautiful name with a pretty sound and a good meaning. Peace is a very important matter for anyone now, whether it is a peaceful world or a peace in each person's mind.

-- pocho-mole  4/14/2006

Irene is a very pretty name. I like what it means and it sounds soft, classy and mysterious yet simple.

-- Anonymous User  6/2/2006

Pronounced ee-RAY-nuh in Germany. [noted -ed]

-- JHK  9/3/2006

Irene de Todos los Santos Urdangarín y de Borbón is the name of the fourth child of Princess Cristina of Spain and her husband Iñaki Urdangarín.

-- MariaNikolaievnaRoma  11/25/2006

Listen to the German pronunciation of Irene here:
http://www.nordicnames.de/Aussprache.html.

-- _satu_  12/16/2006

I've heard it pronounced "ee-RAY-nay" in the 1995 film "Mi Familia".

-- gaelruadh19  1/14/2007

My grandma has this name. In Spanish, I've only heard it pronounced as EE-re-ne.

-- DanielAndres  2/5/2007

I have only heard it pronounced IE-reen. I don't particularly like this name. The only thing that is okay about this name is the nickname Reenie.

-- Anonymous User  3/7/2007

I love Irene for a middle name.

-- elysa  3/14/2007

This name RULES!

-- Anonymous User  4/3/2007

Irene Van Dyk is a 6 foot goal shooter who plays for the Silver Ferns (New Zealand netball team.) She was a South African who moved to New Zealand. She is very good at Netball. :)

-- Koolgal  4/8/2007

Irene (pronounced Ie-REE-nee) Worth was a British actress.

-- Kosta  5/1/2007

Irene was the sister of Alexandra Feodorovna, the last tsaritsa of Russia.

-- bibi66  5/12/2007

This is my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother's middle name, and my mom hates it. I think it's an okay name, just not one of my favorites. I'm just glad it's not my middle name!

-- Anonymous User  7/26/2007

I think Irene is an all-time-classic and pretty name, especially when pronounced AI-REEN. Interesting combinations; Grace-Irene, Brenda-Irene, Martha-Irene.

-- Anonymous User  8/17/2007

The infamous title 'character' in the song known as either "Irene, Goodnight" or "Goodnight Irene," an old folk standard.

-- neverland4962  3/23/2008

Also used in Ireland.

-- Dianna475  3/26/2008

Name of the day on March 23, 2008.

-- ArielleirA  3/26/2008

This name is crap in English, but sounds nice in other languages. In English, it sounds like the name of a dim-witted country girl. I would suggest English-speakers to leave the name alone, but in other languages, it sounds quite pretty, and nicely mature as well.

-- slight night shiver  4/24/2008

I personally see nothing wrong with this name. It's not my favorite in the universe, but it's pretty.

-- Anonymous User  6/12/2008

My name is Irene (pronounced in Spanish, Ee-REH-neh or something like this) and I think it's absolutely classy, beautiful and elegant. Unfortunately is very common nowadays in Spain, but yet, it's so beautiful. And I don't like the English pronunciation at all!

-- Eirene  6/23/2008

Everything about this name is wonderful. The pronunciation, the spelling, the usage. I love it. It's not boring, either.

-- CutieCupcake  8/17/2008

Irene (pronounced Ie-REE-nee) Handl (1901-87) was a British actress of Austrian and French parentage. She was a wonderful comedic presence in lots of films from the 1950s and 1960s that still occasionally appear on British television.
The pronunciation of Irene of her generation (reflected in the character Irene Heron in Galsworthy's "The Forsyte Saga" in the BBC television series of the late 1960s) is seldom if ever heard in Britain anymore.

-- Jonquil  9/15/2008

I pronounce it I-ree-nee, and I love it!

-- Anonymous User  10/10/2008

This is my middle name and both of my grandmothers' names. I was literally destined to have this name. I guess it goes well with my first name (which is Deana), but I particularly don't care for it.

-- DeeDee153  11/14/2008

I don't know why people like this name so much. It's not a bad name and the meaning is nice enough, but it's very old fashioned. I mean, have you ever come across a pretty young girl with a name like Irene, Sheila or Margaret?

-- Anonymous User  12/17/2008

I think it is a beautiful, reserved name, and is well-suited to my favourite [and only] mam-gu. A peaceful, contented, happy sort of name, and one that is quite nice when shortened to 'Reney' [Pronounced REENEE].

-- Dwynwen777  3/22/2009

Terrible in English-speaking languages.

-- Kerules  4/7/2009

I have loved the name Irene since I first saw the film "Gattaca." Until then I thought Irene was an old-lady's name, but the name seemed really fresh and elegant on Uma Thurman's character in the movie.

-- fon_solo  4/8/2009

I've only known one person my age (born in the early 1970s) named Irene. She was named after a grandmother but seemed so cool when we were in college that I had positive associations with it. Then there's Irene Adler, the only woman ever to best Sherlock Holmes, and the fact that it's a traditional Greek and Russian royal name. It's a prettier name when it's pronounced the European way as ee-RAY-nuh, the way it's pronounced in the Sherlock Holmes Grenada series with Jeremy Brett. Eye-REEN is the way it seems to be pronounced in most English-speaking countries, though.

-- Anonymous User  4/18/2009

I think this is a great name, but seems rather old-fashioned nowadays, which is a shame because I think it could be easily recycled and freshened up on a young girl. And Reenee is a really great-sounding nickname. :)

-- walesgal92  5/17/2009

I hate this name because of the sound of it and the last three letters of the name.

-- Anonymous User  7/23/2009

I'm named Irene, at first I really didn't like it, but I'm starting to warm up to it, I've only ever met 1 other person named Irene - so it's pretty unique, but unfortunately I've had stupid nicknames such as irenis or irenis the penis and other variants of them bestowed upon me by certain friends.

-- Anonymous User  9/27/2009

Comments for IRÈNE:

Irène Marie Jacob is a French-born Swiss actress.

-- Anonymous User  12/20/2005

Key: Meaning/History Usage Pronunciation Famous Bearer Personal Impression Other

Comments are left by users of this website. They are not checked for accuracy.