Fun Facts About the Name Imogen
- More than 3 thousand babies named Imogen: U.S. records list 3,177 babies given the name Imogen from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Imogen Mean?
Imogen is an English given name whose meaning is not settled. It is usually treated as a form of the older name Innogen, whose origin is itself unclear. Two explanations are often offered. One connects it to Irish and Scottish Gaelic inghean, "daughter" or "maiden" (as in inghean óg, "young woman"); the other suggests Latin innocens, "innocent." Neither is firmly documented, and the sound correspondences in the second are loose. Because the older name's components cannot be confirmed, the usual honest description of the meaning is that it is uncertain, with "maiden" as a common but unproven interpretation.
Imogen Name History & Origins
The oldest traceable form of the name in English is Innogen, which appears in sixteenth-century chronicle writing. In Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles (1577), Innogen is the wife of Brutus, the legendary first settler of Britain. That figure goes back to an earlier Latin tradition, where Geoffrey of Monmouth had called her Ignoge; the English chronicle form Innogen is the one that circulated in England.
Shakespeare's Cymbeline, written about 1610 and first printed in the 1623 First Folio, gives the name to the heroine, the daughter of King Cymbeline. Shakespeare used Holinshed for the play's British setting, and Holinshed's text reads Innogen. Whether the playwright changed the spelling on purpose or whether Imogen came from a scribal or typesetter's misreading has been argued both ways, since old handwriting can make nn and m hard to distinguish. The form Imogen is the one that survived, and the heroine is a different character from the Innogen who is Brutus's wife in the chronicles.
After the seventeenth century the name stayed in modest use in Britain and traveled with English-speaking settlement elsewhere. The spelling Imogene, with a final e and a different final vowel sound, became established in the United States as a separate form. Imogen itself remained uncommon for a long period and became more familiar in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
How Popular is the Name Imogen?
Imogen has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2024. Its best rank was #1,117 in 2025.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,117 | 211 | 0.0131% |
| 2024 | #1,126 | 214 | 0.0133% |
| 2023 | #1,213 | 196 | 0.0122% |
| 2022 | #1,288 | 184 | 0.0112% |
| 2021 | #1,336 | 167 | 0.0102% |
| 2020 | #1,238 | 184 | 0.0114% |
| 2019 | #1,396 | 161 | 0.0096% |
| 2018 | #1,333 | 170 | 0.0100% |
| 2017 | #1,356 | 171 | 0.0099% |
| 2016 | #1,364 | 173 | 0.0098% |
| 2015 | #1,555 | 141 | 0.0079% |
| 2014 | #1,423 | 160 | 0.0090% |
| 2013 | #1,637 | 131 | 0.0075% |
| 2012 | #1,805 | 113 | 0.0064% |
| 2011 | #1,864 | 108 | 0.0061% |
| 2010 | #1,981 | 101 | 0.0057% |
| 2009 | #2,455 | 78 | 0.0042% |
| 2008 | #2,471 | 77 | 0.0041% |
| 2007 | #2,835 | 64 | 0.0033% |
| 2006 | #2,826 | 62 | 0.0033% |
| 2005 | #3,834 | 38 | 0.0021% |
| 2004 | #3,848 | 37 | 0.0020% |
| 2003 | #3,255 | 45 | 0.0025% |
| 2002 | #3,296 | 42 | 0.0023% |
| 2001 | #3,271 | 42 | 0.0023% |
| 2000 | #6,050 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 1999 | #9,797 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1998 | #9,574 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1997 | #10,158 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1996 | #8,391 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1995 | #9,910 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1993 | #12,356 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1949 | #5,565 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1928 | #4,414 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1926 | #4,539 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1920 | #3,769 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1919 | #4,497 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1915 | #3,260 | 8 | 0.0008% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Imogen Shapes Your Personality and Life?
Your tendency is to finish whatever you start. You like to use the pen or the needle (writing, fashion design etc). You are loving, compassionate, intuitive and humanitarian. Runs of luck, either good or bad, follow you. You are sympathetic, but at times might be touchy and oversensitive. You may have a gift for writing. You are intuitive and might be interested in the arts, drama or science.
You desire to inspire and lead, to control other's affairs. You are giving, courageous and bold, action oriented,energetic and strong willed. You want to make a difference in the world, and this attitude often attracts you to cultural interests, politics, social issues, and the cultivation of your creative talents.
✦ Imogen's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Imogen's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.