Irwin
A surname with Irish and Scottish roots, usually understood as a variant of Irvine and connected to place names in Ayrshire or Dumfriesshire.
The #1,019 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,002 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This name is generally treated as a form of Irvine, itself a locational surname from places in Scotland, especially Irvine in Ayrshire and Irving in Dumfriesshire. Older writers also gave an Irish form, reflecting how the name was established in Ireland as well as Scotland. The underlying place-name history is a little tangled, so the surname is best explained as a regional place-name surname rather than as a word with one single transparent literal meaning.
History
Lower explicitly described Irwin as the Irish form of Irvine, while Bardsley grouped Irwin with other spellings of the Irvine/Irving family of names. The surname spread widely in Scotland and Ireland and later became common in English-speaking countries through migration. In the United States, Irwin is well established but not among the most frequent surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname books often treated Irwin, Irvin, Irvine, and Irving as closely related spellings of the same family group, though modern scholarship is more cautious about separating them.
From the historical record
“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. ISAAC. This, as a baptismal name, was introduced about the time…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Irwin
- Steve Irwin (1962–2006)
- Bill Irwin (b. 1950)
- James Irwin (1930–1991)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.