Imo
Feminine
Imo is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 903 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Imo is three letters long, and English has almost no women's names that short which are not clippings of something else. The trouble is that this one arrived in the record without its long form, so nobody can say what it was cut from.
How old is the name Imo?
Imo first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Imo alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 100 people named Imo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Imo most popular?
Imo peaked in 1885, reaching #745 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Imo
Count the very short women's names in English and almost every one turns out to be the end or the beginning of something longer: Di, Sue, Bea, Jo, Ann, Kit, Pru, Flo. The language does not really coin three-letter names from scratch; it wears longer ones down and then forgets the rest. That leaves a category of names in the American record that are all ending and no beginning — written on a certificate because that was what the family said at home, with the formal version never used, never written, and lost inside two generations. A name like this one is a piece of household speech that got onto a government form, which is a more intimate thing to inherit than an etymology.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No long form is recorded. Imogene, Imelda and Ima were all in American use in the same decades and each yields these three letters; so does a family nickname with no formal version at all. The record holds the short name bare, which is how a great many names of that era arrived.
Pronouncing Imo
EYE-mo
Two syllables, stress at the front. EE-mo is also recorded and the spelling does not settle it.
Nicknames for Imo
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 192734 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #745reached in 1885
- Change vs 1952
- 0.0%5 in 1957, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Imos among us
people named Imo are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Imo sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is as short as a name gets while still being sayable.
- It is genuinely unique in almost any room.
- Nothing in it is difficult to spell or to remember.
- Two pronunciations are possible and she will be asked which.
- The spelling is recorded for a few boys, but nearly every child with it is a girl.
- With no long form behind it there is nothing formal to fall back on.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Imo
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Imos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Imo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Imo in 2025?
- Imo is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Imo with classmates?
- Imo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isabella#7 · Irene#651 · Ida#1120 · Isabel#176 · Isabelle#166 · Iris#61 · Ivy#39 · Irma#3167
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Imo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Imo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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