From a Scottish surname which was in turn derived from a Scottish place name meaning "green water". Historically this name has been relatively common among Jews, who have used it as an American-sounding form of Hebrew names beginning with I such as ਇਸਹਾਕ, ਇਜ਼ਰਾਇਲ ਅਤੇ ਯਸਾਯਾਹ. A famous bearer was the Russian-American songwriter ਅਤੇ lyricist Irving Berlin (1888-1989), whose birth name was Israel Beilin.
