Ines
Masculine · “pure”
Ines is given to both — 399 boys and 6,751 girls since 1880. See Ines as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Ines entered the US charts in 1913, peaked at #2034 in 1927, is rarely given in 2025 — given to only a few children a year.
How old is the name Ines?
Ines first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Ines alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 200 people named Ines are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ines most popular?
Ines peaked in 1927, reaching #2034 nationally. See the whole 1927 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 192716 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2034reached in 1927
- Change vs 2007
- +20.0%6 in 2009, 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.
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
Iness among us
people named Ines 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
Ines 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
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ines
Masculine
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 200 people named Ines are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ines in 2025?
- Ines is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Ines with classmates?
- Ines will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More I names
The most-given names starting with I, all years combined.
Isaac#47 · Ian#83 · Isaiah#57 · Ivan#162 · Israel#315 · Ira#819 · Irving#1778 · Ismael#263
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ines? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ines and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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