How popular is the baby name Irene in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Irene.

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Popularity of the baby name Irene


Posts that mention the name Irene

Where did the baby name Capucine come from in 1961?

French actress Capucine in the movie "Song Without End" (1960)
Capucine in “Song Without End“

The curious name Capucine first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in the early 1960s:

  • 1964: 8 baby girls named Capucine
  • 1962: 8 baby girls named Capucine
  • 1961: 5 baby girls named Capucine [debut]
  • 1960: unlisted
  • 1959: unlisted

Where did it come from?

French actress/model Capucine (pronounced kah-pu-seen, roughly).

Her first English-language film, Song Without End, was released in mid-1960. The film was about 19th-century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, and Capucine played a fictionalized version of Polish princess Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, who was romantically linked to Liszt. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

The film’s trailer introduced Capucine to American audiences by emphasizing the uniqueness of her name:

Capucine — a name to whisper, a name to shout, a name to remember.

Capucine — one of France’s great beauties.

Capucine’s birth name was Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre. When she started to model professionally as a teenager, she was given the name Capucine — the French word for the nasturtium flower (which is shaped like the hood of a Capuchin monk’s robe). According to Capucine’s Song Without End co-star Dirk Bogarde, “[s]he couldn’t remember who pinned it on her — Chanel, Givenchy or just a publicist somewhere.”

At the end of the ’60s, Capucine appeared alongside fellow model Donyale Luna in the film Fellini Satyricon.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Capucine?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Song Without End

Where did the baby name Antigone come from in 1962?

The character Antigone (played by actress Irene Papas) from the movie "Antigone" (1961)
The title character from “Antigone“

The Greek name Antigone (pronounced an-TIH-guh-nee) first appeared in the U.S. baby name data in 1962:

  • 1964: unlisted
  • 1963: unlisted
  • 1962: 8 baby girls named Antigone [debut]
  • 1961: unlisted
  • 1960: unlisted

The ultimate origin is the Greek tragedy Antigone (441 B.C.), written by Sophocles.

But the thing that drew attention to the name in the early 1960s was the Greek-language movie Antigone (1961) — the first major theatrical film made of the story. The movie, which starred Greek actress Irene Papas as Antigone, won several film festival awards in 1961 and (I think) was first screened in the U.S. in mid-1962.

Where does the name come from? Two ancient Greek words: anti, meaning “against, opposite, in place of,” and gone, meaning “womb, childbirth, generation.” The intended meaning in Antigone’s case might be “in place of a mother,” according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Do you like the name Antigone? Do you think it could work for a modern-day baby?

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Antigone