Irina

Irina (Cyrillic: Ирина) is a variant of Irene, being a Cyrillic-transliterated Christian Orthodox feminine given name of Greek origin, and the variant adopted by most followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The name Irina is derived from the ancient Greek goodess of peaceful life Eirene. In Ancient Greek εἰρήνη means peace. It has namesakes.

Forms

Due to a difference of pronunciation in Ukrainian (Ukrainian: Ірина) and the rest of Cyrillic-based languages, the name has the forms “Irina” and “Iryna”. Note that until 1860s, Romania, a predominantly Christian Orthodox country, used the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, and that after switching to the Latin alphabet it has adopted the Orthodox version of the name over the Catholic “Irene”.

Diminutive forms in Slavic languages include Ira, Irinka, Irinushka, Irisha, Irka, Irochka, Irinochka, Irishenka.

Origin

Irina is connected with Irene of Macedon (I-II century) who was the first woman recognized by the church as a great martyr. She was born pagan as Penelope and later baptized by Saint Timothy as Irene.

Notable people with this name

Nobility and politics

• Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia
• Irina Yusupova
• Irina Walker, daughter of King Michael I of Romania
• Irina Khakamada, Russian politician

Arts and music

• Irina Allegrova, Russian singer
• Irina Antonenko, Miss Russia 2010
• Irina Ionesco, French photographer
• Irina Iordachescu, Romanian soprano opera singer
• Irina Saari, Finnish pop singer, better known by her mononym Irina
• Irina Toneva, Russian pop singer

Actresses and models

• Irina Pantaeva, Siberian fashion model and actress
• Irina Sharipova, fashion model, 1st runner-up at Miss Russia 2010. Contestant of Miss World 2010
• Irina Shayk, model originally from Russia
• Irina Voronina, Playboy Playmate originally from Russia
• Irina Lazareanu, Romanian-born Canadian model

Sports

• Irina Baskakova, Soviet track and field sprinter
• Irina-Camelia Begu, Romanian tennis player
• Irina Bespalova, Russian butterfly swimmer
• Irina Deleanu, Romanian former individual rhythmic gymnast
• Irina Kostyuchenkova, Ukrainian javelin thrower
• Irina Krush, chess player
• Irina Lashko, Russian-born Australian diver
• Irina Loghin, Romanian folk singer
• Irina Mikitenko, Kazakhstan-born German long-distance runner, former winner of both the Berlin and London marathons
• Irina Podyalovskaya, Soviet middle distance runner
• Irina Ponarovskaya, Soviet and Russian singer
• Irina Press, Soviet 2x Olympic champion (80-m hurdles & pentathlon)
• Irina Rodnina, Soviet figure skater
• Irina Slutskaya, Russian world champion figure skater
• Irina Tebenikhina, Russian volleyball player
• Irina Ufimtseva, Russian freestyle swimmer

Other

• Irina Livezeanu, Romanian-born American historian

Fictional characters

• Irina, the child protagonist in Magdalen Nabb's 'The Enchanted Horse'.
• Irina Derevko, KGB and Covenant terrorist, a main character in the Alias series
• Irina Palm, pseudonym of the main character in 2007 film of the same name
• Irina Spalko, a fictional Soviet Union KGB agent in the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• Irina Clayton, a.k.a. Choir, a former member of the Xavier Institute student body and the Street Team X-Men in the Marvel Comics Universe
• Irina, One of the three sisters in Anton Chekhov's play 'Three Sisters'
• Irina Kerchenkov, a Russian model in Sarra Manning's Fashionistas book series
• Irina Denali, a member of the Denali coven in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
• Irina Shidō, a fictional character from the Japanese light novel series High School DxD by Ichiei Ishibumi.
• The Groovy Girls doll line, by Manhattan Toy, features a doll named Irina.
• Irina Jelavić, a fictional character in the Japanese manga and anime Assassination Classroom
• Irina Clockworker, an antagonist from a series of Vocaloid songs known as "The Evillious Chronicles"

See also

• Irina (disambiguation)
• All pages beginning with "Irina"
• All pages beginning with "Iryna"