Pronunciation Gender Female Word/name Unknown, possibly Celtic or Germanic Meaning Unknown, possibly "maiden", "girl", or “beloved child” Related names Imogene, Innogen (Ignoge, Inogene), Immy or Imi (nickname),
Imo (nickname), Moggie or Mog (nickname)
Imogen (), or Imogene (), is a female given name of uncertain etymology.
It is possible that the name Imogen may have originated as an accidental or deliberate misspelling of the name Innogen , itself a possibly common Irish Gaelic name in the past, from the word 'inghean' meaning "maiden" or "girl",[ 1] or a British Celtic name derived from the Latin Innocentia .[ 2] Innogen is known as the name of a legendary British queen and was supposedly wife to King Brutus and mother of Locrinus , Albanactus and Camber . The form Innogen is rare.[ 3] Another theory is that it is derived from Greek, meaning "beloved child".[ 4]
Imogen was the name of a politically influential sister[ 5] of Rivallon I of Dol , a contemporary and ally of William the Conqueror during the Breton-Norman War .
In England and Wales; it was the 34th most popular baby girl name in 2014,[ 6] whilst in Australia, Imogen was the 35th most popular name for baby girls from 2011-13.[ 7] It was ranked 86th in popularity for baby girls in Scotland in 2007.[ 8]
As of July 2014, Imogen had never been in the top 1000 most popular baby names in the United States, with only 131 baby girls named Imogen in the US in 2013.[ 9]
Imogen Annesley (born 1970), Australian actress
Imogen Bailey (born 1977), Australian model, actress and singer
Imogen Bankier (born 1987), Scottish badminton player
Imogen Boorman (born 1971), British actress from Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Imogen Cairns (born 1989), British gymnast
Imogene Coca (1908–2001), American comic actress
Imogen Cooper (born 1949), English pianist
Imogen Cunningham (1883–1976), American photographer
Imogen Edwards-Jones (born 1968), British author
Imogen Grant (born 1996), British rower
Imogen Hassall (1942–1980), British actress
Imogen Heap (born 1977), English singer-songwriter
Imogen Holst (1907–1984), British composer and conductor
Imogen King (born 1996), English actress
Imogen Kogge (born 1957), German actress
Imogen LaChance (1853–1938), American social reformer
Imogen Lloyd Webber (born 1977), British writer and theatre manager
Imogen Murphy , Irish film and television director
Imogen Poots (born 1989), British actress
Imogen Simmonds [es ] (born 1993), British-Swiss triathlete
Imogen Stuart (1927–2024), German sculptor
Imogen Stubbs (born 1961), English actress
Imogen Thomas (born 1982), Welsh model and contestant on Big Brother UK
Imogen Waterhouse (born 1994), English actress and model
Fictional characters [ edit ]
Imogen (Shakespeare) from William Shakespeare 's play Cymbeline
Imogene, from Vincenzo Bellini 's 1827 opera Il pirata
Imogen, a character from Psyopus ' 3-part song "Imogen's Puzzle"
Imogen, portrayed by Julia Stiles in the comedy Down to You
Imogen, from the book Bad Dreams by Anne Fine
Imogen, from the book Imogen by Jilly Cooper
Imogen, Angus' younger sister in the Australian children's novel Bumface written by Morris Gleitzman
Imogene Herdman, from Barbara Robinson 's children's story The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Imogen, daughter of Winifred Dartie (née Forsyte), from The Forsyte Saga
Imogene, from Charles De Lint 's The Blue Girl and In This Soul of a Woman
Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode, from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Imogen, from Jonathan Coe 's novel The Rain Before It Falls
Imogen, from BBC's British children's television comedy-drama series Sadie J
Imogen Book, from Eoin Colfer 's Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
Imogene O'Neil, heroine of the 2009 miniseries Meteor , played by Marla Sokoloff
Imogen Melford, one of the four Melford sisters in Diana Wynne Jones 's The Time of the Ghost
Imogen Moreno , in the Canadian drama Degrassi
Imogen Hazard, one of many twin girls in Angela Carter 's 1991 book Wise Children
Imogen, played by Louisa Lytton in the 2009 teen comedy American Pie Presents: The Book of Love
Imogène, from Charles Exbrayat 's series of humorous novels
Aunt Imogene, from the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland portrayed by Frances de la Tour
Imogene, Trixie Delight's maid in Addie Pray by Joe David Brown , also appearing in the film Paper Moon based on the novel
Imogene Graham, a major character in Indian Summer , an 1886 novel by William Dean Howells
Imogen, the principal female character in the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Imogen, from Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Imogen Clark, a minor character in What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Imogen Reed, from the video game SOMA
Imogen, from Imogen Says Nothing , a play by Aditi Kapil
Imogene Cleary, from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel , an Amazon original TV series. Played by Bailey De Young
Imogen Staxton-Billing, from the Revengers' Comedies plays and Malcolm Mowbray's 1998 film Sweet Revenge , played by Kristin Scott Thomas
Imogene Duncan, from the 2012 film Girl Most Likely , played by Kristen Wiig
Imogen Spurnrose, from the Amazon original series Carnival Row , played by Tamzin Merchant
Imogen Royce, an assassination target in the Hitman 3 video game
Imogen Temult, Laura Bailey 's character from campaign three of Critical Role
Imogen Heaney, Rhea Norwood’s character in the Netflix adaptation of Alice Oseman ’s series Heartstopper
Imogen Adams, the protagonist of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin , played by Bailee Madison
Imogen Gunn, from Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
Imogen S'Jet, From Homeworld 3
Imogen Cardulo, From Fourth Wing
Imogen Herondale, From The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
Imogen Heaney, From the Netflix series Heartstopper , played by Rhea Norwood.
^ Norman, Teresa (2003). A World of Baby Names . Penguin. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-399-52894-1 .
^ Bartrum, Peter C. (2009) [1993]. "Innogen daughter of Pandrasus" (PDF) . In MPS (ed.). A Welsh Classical Dictionary . Vol. 7. National Library of Wales . p. 442.
^ John Pitcher, 'Names in Cymbeline' , Essays in Criticism , v. 43(1), 1993, specifically pp. 3–8; subscription required.
^ Brown, Michele (1985). The New Book of First Names . Corgi . p. 154. ISBN 9780552122573 .
^ Marjorie Chibnall, ed. (1990). Anglo-Norman Studies XIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference . p. 168.
^ "The 100 most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2014 – the full list" . The Guardian . 17 August 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016.
^ Sullivan, Rebecca (5 May 2015). "Australia's top 10 baby names" . News.com.au . News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015.
^ Behind the Name
^ Redmond Satran, Pamela (9 July 2014). "The most popular baby names of 2014 so far are..." Today Parents . Archived from the original on 1 April 2016.