Irving
A Scottish surname from place names in Dumfriesshire and possibly Ayrshire, originally meaning someone who came from those localities.
The #2,433 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,727 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Irving is generally treated as a locational name, referring to people from the ancient parish of Irving in Dumfriesshire; some early writers also connected related forms with Irvine in Ayrshire. The place-name element itself is old and local, but the surname meaning is straightforward: “of Irving” or “from Irving.” 19th-century surname scholars also noted that Irving and its many spellings were not just one loose family name, but a cluster of forms tied to the same border-area places.
History
Lower explicitly distinguishes Irving as a separate name from Irwin/Irvine, while Bardsley records it among the Scottish border surname forms and notes several spellings in circulation. The name is especially associated with southern Scotland and the Anglo-Scottish border, where local surnames often spread into Northumberland and beyond. In later English usage, Irving became well known through bearers such as the actor Henry Irving.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Victorian surname scholars noted an unusually wide web of spellings for this name, including Irvyn, Erwyn, Irrwine, and Urwen.
From the historical record
“Irving is a distinct name, IRVING. An ancient parish In Dum- friesshire. IRWIN, The Irish form of Irvine. The singular Christian name Crinus, which pre- vails in the family of I. of Tauragoe, co, Sligo, is traditionally derived from Kryuin Abethnaj, the second husband of the mother of Duncan, King of Scotland.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Irving
- Washington Irving (1783–1859)
- John Irving (b. 1942)
- Kyrie Irving (b. 1992)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.