Ines
Feminine · “pure”
Ines is given to both — 6,751 girls and 399 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Ines is the Spanish and Portuguese descendant of Agnes, worn smooth by centuries of speech until the hard opening consonant fell away entirely. It is two syllables that end on a soft hiss, the stress landing on the second — a shape shared with Renée and Lourdes. In English-speaking countries it has been quietly present for generations, never crowding the playground, never disappearing either.
How old is the name Ines?
Ines first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Ines alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 4,600 people named Ines are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ines most popular?
Ines peaked in 1916, reaching #714 nationally. Today it ranks #1109, 395 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Ines appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Hagne to Ines
The story of Ines
The name begins as Greek Hagne and passes into Latin as Agnes, carried through medieval Europe by the cult of Saint Agnes, a Roman martyr of the early fourth century. Spanish and Portuguese speakers wore Agnes down over time: the initial A softened, the g dropped out, and Inés and Inês emerged as the everyday local forms. Portugal gave the name one of its most retold stories in Inês de Castro, the fourteenth-century noblewoman loved by the future King Pedro I, whose fate Camões set down in Os Lusíadas and which has been staged as tragedy ever since. The unaccented Ines travels well beyond Iberia — it is standard in Croatia, Slovenia and parts of Italy too.
Meaning
pure, chaste
The root is Greek hagnos, 'pure, holy'. Very early on, Latin speakers heard an echo of agnus, 'lamb', and the lamb became the fixed emblem of Saint Agnes in art — an association rather than an etymology, but one that has followed the name for well over a thousand years.
How the name formed
- Hagne
- Agnes
- Agnés
- Inés
- Ines
Related forms: Inés · Inês · Agnès · Agnese · Agnes · Agnieszka
Pronouncing Ines
ee-NESS
Stress on the second syllable, with a clean s at the end. English speakers who know the Inez spelling often say ee-NEZ with a z, and both are heard in the US. Without the Spanish accent mark, some readers default to EE-ness with the stress up front.
Nicknames for Ines
Moderate
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 2025213 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #714reached in 1916
- Change vs 2022
- +91.9%213 in 2025, from 111
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.
Ines in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Inés in Spanish — spelling variant
- Inês in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Agnès in French — same name
- Agnese in Italian — same name
- Agnes in German — same name
- Agnieszka in Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Iness among us
people named Ines are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 7,546 born in 2025 was named Ines
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ines
- #1109
- Ines on the 2025 chart
- #615
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ines went to 213 girls in 2025, but Inez is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 369, which makes it the 615th most-given girls’ name of the year — 494 places above the chart.
- Ines213
- Inez156
About 1 girl in 4,356 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 7,546 for Ines itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Aggie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ines's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aggie climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aggie's path sketches the road Ines is walking now.
Ines is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ines is headed
Ines looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Ines beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ines in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters, two syllables, and no silent letters — easy to write early and easy to fit on a form.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian, Slovene and Italian, and has close cousins in French, German and Polish.
- An unbroken written record stretching back through medieval Iberia to a Roman name of the early Christian centuries.
- Rare enough in the US that a child is unlikely to share it in class, but familiar enough that nobody asks what it is.
- The pronunciation is genuinely split in the US between ee-NESS and ee-NEZ, so expect to correct people, and to decide early which one you are.
- Dropping the accent makes the spelling simpler but removes the cue for stress; Inés and Ines will both be read aloud in more than one way.
- It sits close to Inez and Agnes, and older relatives may reach for one of those instead. That fades quickly once people have heard you say it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ines
Feminine · #1109 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Iness are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,600 people named Ines are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ines?
- Ines is the most-used spelling in US records — 213 of the 369 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Inez.
- How popular is the name Ines in 2025?
- Ines ranks #1109 among US girl names in 2025, with 213 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ines?
- About 1 in every 7,546 US girls born in 2025 was named Ines — 213 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ines with classmates?
- Ines will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ines
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Tinsley#1109 · Erika#1109 · Icelynn#1109 · Kamora#1108 · Sia#1107 · Betty#1113 · Clarissa#1113 · Leena#1113
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ines? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ines and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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