Inga
Feminine · “Norse Ing”
Ing was a god. He appears in the Old English rune poem as a figure who departed eastward over the waves, in Norse as Yngvi-Freyr, and the Swedish royal house called itself the Ynglings after him. Inga, Ingrid and Ingeborg all carry his name.
How old is the name Inga?
Inga was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Inga alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 2,400 people named Inga are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Inga most popular?
Inga peaked in 1889, reaching #368 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 9,089 places below that high. See the whole 1889 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ing to Inga
The story of Inga
Ing is attested in three places that fit together. The Old English rune poem, which glosses the runic alphabet, says that Ing was first seen among the East Danes and afterwards went east over the wave, his wagon running behind him. Tacitus, writing in the first century, names the Ingaevones as one of the three great divisions of the Germanic peoples, descended from a son of Mannus. And the Norse sources call Freyr by the name Yngvi or Yngvi-Freyr, and make him the ancestor of the Ynglings, the dynasty of Uppsala from which the kings of Sweden and Norway traced descent. The wagon in the English poem matches the Norse accounts of Freyr's image being carried in procession. Very few Germanic gods are attested across that spread of sources, and Ing survives in more personal names than most of them.
Meaning
Norse Ing, a god's name
Inga is a Scandinavian and German name built on the element Ing, the name of a Germanic god identified in Norse sources with Freyr, the god of fertility and prosperity. The same element opens Ingrid, Ingeborg, Ingvar and Ingemar. Its own origin is not established. The American peak is 1889.
How the name formed
- Ing
- Inga
Related forms: Inga · Inge · Inga
Pronouncing Inga
ING-ah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The ng is the single sound of sing, not n followed by g. Swedish and German say it the same way.
Nicknames for Inga
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1969115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #368reached in 1889
- Change vs 2022
- −56.5%10 in 2025, from 23
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.
Inga in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Inga in Swedish — same name
- Inge in German — same name
- Inga in Norwegian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Minnesota, California.
Ingas among us
people named Inga are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Inga
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Inga 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
Inga beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Inga in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, easy in several languages.
- It carries one of the best attested Germanic god-names.
- Ingrid and Ingeborg are available as fuller forms.
- It reads as strongly Scandinavian.
- English speakers may separate the n and g.
- The 1889 peak places it in the immigrant generation.
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Inga
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ingas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Inga are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Inga in 2025?
- Inga ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Inga?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Inga — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Inga with classmates?
- Inga will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Inga
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Lania#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Inga? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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