Ingeborg
Feminine · “protection of Ing”
Ingeborg is one of the oldest names still in ordinary use in Scandinavia. Both halves are Norse, and the first of them is a god so old that his name is a rune and a tribal label before it is anything else.
How old is the name Ingeborg?
Ingeborg first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Ingeborg alive today was born around 1925, making them about 100 years old. About 200 people named Ingeborg are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ingeborg most popular?
Ingeborg peaked in 1901, reaching #961 nationally. See the whole 1901 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ingiborg to Ingeborg
The story of Ingeborg
Ing has one of the deepest paper trails of any Germanic god. His name is a letter in the runic alphabet, with its own verse in an Old English rune poem describing him as first seen among a coastal people before departing eastward over the waves. Tacitus, writing in Latin, names one of the three great divisions of the Germanic peoples after him. And the Norse knew him as a name of the fertility god of Uppsala. Centuries later a Danish princess called Ingeborg was married to the king of France, who took one look at her the morning after the wedding, declared the marriage impossible and tried to send her home. She refused to go, appealed to Rome, and the pope eventually placed all of France under interdict: no masses, no marriages, no burials in consecrated ground, until the king took her back. He held out for months. She won.
Meaning
protection of Ing
The name joins the god-name Ing to a word meaning protection or stronghold, the same element in Norse borg. The reading is settled, and the same first element opens Ingrid, Ingemar and Ingvar.
How the name formed
- Ingiborg
- Ingeborg
Related forms: Ingeborg · Ingeborg · Ingibjörg
Pronouncing Ingeborg
ING-uh-borg
Three syllables with the stress in front. In Scandinavian speech the final consonant is softer and the middle syllable almost disappears.
Nicknames for Ingeborg
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
- 1886
- Most girls named
- 193031 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #961reached in 1901
- Change vs 1970
- −14.3%6 in 1981, from 7
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.
Ingeborg in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ingeborg in Swedish — same name
- Ingeborg in Danish — same name
- Ingibjörg in Icelandic — same name
Ingeborgs among us
people named Ingeborg 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
Ingeborg 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
- The meaning is settled and documented in one of the best-recorded name traditions in Europe.
- Inge is available as a short form and stands perfectly well on its own.
- It is genuinely rare in the United States while being entirely ordinary in Scandinavia.
- Three syllables and an unfamiliar ending mean it will be spelled aloud often in America.
- The final syllable now carries a science-fiction association for a generation of English speakers.
- It reads as a name of an older generation in Scandinavia too, which is worth knowing if that matters.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ingeborg to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Ingeborg? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ingeborg
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Ingeborgs 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 Ingeborg are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ingeborg in 2025?
- Ingeborg is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Ingeborg with classmates?
- Ingeborg 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 Ingeborg? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ingeborg and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle