Imogen
Feminine · “maiden”
Imogen belongs to the heroine of Shakespeare's Cymbeline, and has been read aloud from that play since the First Folio of 1623. It is three light syllables with the weight up front — IM-uh-jen — and it has been a steady presence in British nurseries for generations while remaining uncommon in the United States.
How old is the name Imogen?
Imogen first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Imogen is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,100 people named Imogen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Imogen most popular?
Imogen peaked in 2025, reaching #1117 nationally. Today it ranks #1117, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Imogen appears on these lists:
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Scottish gems the US hasn't discovered
- Shakespeare names still stealing scenes
- Dark academia names with candlelit gravitas
- all guides
Works in British families too:
Where it comes from
From Innogen to Imogen
The story of Imogen
The name arrives in the record with Cymbeline, where Shakespeare's virtuous, wronged princess carries it through one of the strangest plots in the canon. In the chronicle material behind the play the name appears as Innogen, which is why generations of editors have treated the Folio's Imogen as a typesetter's slip — one that stuck, because the play was popular and the spelling was pretty. From the stage it passed into English use, becoming genuinely established in Britain, where it still charts in England and Wales and in Scotland. Its American life is much shorter and much quieter: a thin early presence, then a recent turn upward that has put it in the hands of young children rather than adults.
Meaningscholars disagree
'maiden, girl' — if the name began as Innogen
Editors since the eighteenth century have argued that Imogen is a misprint: the character in Shakespeare's sources appears as Innogen, a name tied to Irish inghean, 'daughter, maiden'. If that reading is right, the meaning is 'maiden'. If the printed form is taken on its own terms, Imogen has no meaning at all — it is a name made by the press and kept by four centuries of readers. Both accounts have serious support.
How the name formed
- Innogen
- Imogen
Related forms: Imogene · Innogen · Imogène · Imogene
Pronouncing Imogen
IM-uh-jen
Stress falls on the first syllable, with a short i as in 'him'. The ending rhymes with 'hen', not with 'jean' — that longer ending belongs to the variant spelling Imogene. The guess 'eye-MOH-jen' is common from readers meeting the name in print for the first time.
Nicknames for Imogen
High
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 2024216 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1117reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- −2.3%211 in 2025, from 216
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.
Imogen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Imogene in English (US) — spelling variant
- Innogen in English (early modern) — related form
- Imogène in French — spelling variant
- Imogene in Italian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas. International figures from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Imogens among us
people named Imogen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,617 born in 2025 was named Imogen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Delana test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Imogen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Delana climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Delana's path sketches the road Imogen is walking now.
Imogen sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Imogen is headed
Imogen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Imogen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Imogen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four centuries of continuous printed use, anchored in a Shakespeare play that is still taught and staged.
- Ready-made short forms already in real use — Immy and Imo — so the full name never has to do all the work.
- Established across the English-speaking world, charting currently in England and Wales and in Scotland as well as the US.
- Distinctive in American classrooms without being invented: a child is unlikely to meet another one, and the spelling has a fixed, documented form.
- Many Americans know the mid-century spelling Imogene better, so expect to correct both the spelling and the final syllable fairly often.
- The 'eye-MOH-jen' misreading is very common on first sight, particularly from people encountering the name written down before hearing it.
- It is far more familiar in Britain than in the United States, where its recent rise sits mostly among young children — so an adult Imogen here is a rarity, while a child one has company in her own generation.
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What they receive
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Imogen
Feminine · #1117 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Imogens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,100 people named Imogen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Imogen in 2025?
- Imogen ranks #1117 among US girl names in 2025, with 211 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Imogen?
- About 1 in every 7,617 US girls born in 2025 was named Imogen — 211 in all.
- Will my child share the name Imogen with classmates?
- Imogen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Imogen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kacey#1117 · Rhiannon#1119 · Ingrid#1120 · Raquel#1120 · Princess#1120 · Ida#1120 · Xolani#1120 · Betty#1113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Imogen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Imogen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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