Greek Names that Start With I

Iris

Flower name; Greek

"rainbow"

Iris has so much going for it. It's a fashionable flower name. It's a mythological name, from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. And it's a classic name, always ranking in the girls' Top 1000 but now…

Irene

Greek

"peace"

Serene Irene, the name of the Greek goddess of peace and one of the most familiar Greek goddess names , was hugely popular in ancient Rome and again in the United States a hundred years ago. One of…

Iliana

Greek, Spanish variation of Helen

"from Ilium or Troy; shining light"

Iliana is one of the vaguely but usually undefinably international names that have a wide range of spellings and pronunciations. Ilium was the poetic name of the city of Troy, and variations of this…

Indigo

Greek

"Indian dye"

Indigo is one of the most appealing and evocative of the new generation of color names. Color names have joined flower and jewel names -- in a big way -- and Indigo, a deep blue-purple dye from…

Io

Greek mythology name

Io may be one of the slightest names in the book, but there aren't many two-letter names with as much substance as this Greek mythological example. Io, a name used for the largest moon of Jupiter,…

Ioanna

Greek variation of Joanna

Ioanna may be an original spin on the Joanna family, but American tongues may have trouble wrapping themselves around all its vowels. Ioanna is pronounced ee-oh-ah-nah.

Iola

Greek or Welsh

"violet; beautiful lady"

Isla is hot, Iona is cool – maybe it's time Iola got a second look? Last heard from on Carol Burnett's Mama's Family show, Iola feels like just the sort of uncommon, vowel-rich, vintage name that…

Iolanthe

Greek

"violet flower"

Iolanthe is known primarily through the 1882 Gilbert & Sullivan operetta of that name, in which the title character is a fairy. Iolanthe is a softer version of Yolanda, and is the kind of…

Iolanda

Italian; Portuguese, Romanian, from Greek

"violet flower"

An alternate spelling of Yolanda, used in some of the Romance languages.

Iolande

Iolande is a feminine name with medieval European heritage, representing a variant of Yolanda or Iolanthe. Derived from the Greek elements 'ion' (violet flower) and 'anthos' (flower), it literally…

Ione

Greek

"violet flower"

This unusual Greek flower and color name has gained considerable recent attention via actress Ione Skye, who is the daughter of sixties folksinger Donovan. Ione was one of the fifty sea nymphs —…

Ionia

Greek place-name

Also relating to the sea and the islands, this name is a bit more melodic than its cousins.

Iphigenia

Greek

"of royal birth"

In mythology, Iphigenia was sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon -- a difficult legacy to pass on to a daughter, and only one reason the name is hardly ever used.

Irina

Russian from Greek

"peace"

Irina is a Russian ballet-inflected classic, one of the Three Sisters in the Chekhov play. While some Americans will pronounce this like Irene with three syllables, the pronunciation used throughout…

Isadora

Greek

"gift of Isis"

For a long time, Isadora has been overlooked in favor of Isabella, owing perhaps to its association with the tragic modern dancer, Isadora Duncan, or because parents would rather their daughter be a…

Isaura

Greek place-name

The name of an ancient country located in South Asia Minor, perfect for someone looking for a rare and feminine name with history.

Ionna

Ionna is a feminine name with Greek origins, likely a variant of Ioanna, which is the Greek form of Joanna or Joan. These names derive from the Hebrew Yochanan, meaning 'God is gracious.' With its…