In medieval Europe, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing her own blood by wounding her own breast when no other food was available (a myth). As a result, the pelican came to symbolize the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist, and usurped the image of the lamb and the flag.
Irving is originally a Scottish surname, a variant of the name Irvine, which is derived from the eponymous River Irvine in Dumfriesshire.