Variant of Irving, from a Scottish place name meaning 'green water' or 'fresh water.'
Irvin is a given name and surname with roots in the ancient Celtic landscape of Scotland. It derives from Irvine, a town in Ayrshire on the Firth of Clyde, whose name comes from a pre-Celtic river name believed to mean something close to "green water" or "fresh water" — the River Irvine running through it. The Irving and Irvin variants spread as surnames across Scotland and Ireland before migrating to the New World with Scottish and Scots-Irish emigrant communities in the 17th and 18th centuries.
As a first name, Irvin gained particular traction in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when surnames converted naturally to given names in American naming culture. Its most famous literary bearer may be Washington Irving, the author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" — though his given name was Washington and Irving was his surname. The composer Irving Berlin, born Israel Beilin, adopted the name in the early 20th century and wore it across one of the most celebrated careers in American popular music, writing "White Christmas," "God Bless America," and hundreds more standards.
Irvin peaked in American popularity in the 1910s through 1940s and then gradually receded, giving it the warm, vintage quality that mid-century names now carry. It is solid and unpretentious, carrying echoes of immigrant ambition and creative achievement without demanding attention.