Skip to main content

Imogen

Today's name: Imogen (female)

Pronunciation: EE-mo-jehn, IM-o-jehn
Note: only some of the variants, such as Emogene and Imogene, can be pronounced "eh-muh-jean."

Potential nicknames: Gen, Imo, Genny, Immy, Ginny, Mogie, Enna, Genna

Variants: Emogen, Emogene, Imogene, Imogenia, Imogine, Imojean, Imojeen

Origin: Irish and Gaelic, meaning "maiden." It comes from the Celtic name Innogen, which was derived from "inghean." Shakespeare's character Imogen, in his play "Cymbeline," was intended to be spelled Innogen, the traditional Celtic way. It is possible he saw this spelling used by Raphael Holinshed, an English chronicler who Shakespeare used as a source of information for his plays, but his mistake in spelling it Imogen was successful. Imogen could have been misspelled before Shakespeare by Holinshed or anyone else in a misunderstanding that the name referred to "the last born," in Latin, "imo gens."

Popularity: Although it has never reached top 1000 popularity, in 2010 there were 100 baby girls born in the U.S. named Imogen, and 11 named Imogene. In 2011 there were 13 girls named Imogene and 106 named Imogen.

Fun fact: (1) Imogen was a female character in Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Heart of Midlothian." (2) You may recognize the name from famous singer Imogen Heap.

The last baby name I posted about that meant "maiden" was Cora. Here are even more names that mean "maiden":
Aluma, Azra, Berdine, Berengaria, Bertilde, Chorine, Maida, Mayda, Morwenna, Parthenia, Virginia

.
Labels:

Comments

  1. merdenomsnamesSeptember 18, 2011 at 6:47 AM

    Imogen is in the Top 30 here in England, so we're really smitten by her here. I think most of them I do know are referred to as Immy, which I find to be a slightly awkward nickname.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CristinaSeptember 18, 2011 at 1:58 PM

    I would love to start adding numbers for England and other countries. This is the only reference I can find:
    http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/pop/UK2010/UK2010xx01.html

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...
2 comments
Read more

Massimo

Today's name: Massimo (male) Pronunciation: MAH-see-moh Potential nicknames: Masi, Simo, Max Origin: Along with Massimiliano, Massimo is the Italian variant of the Latin name Maximilian (which was the name of three Roman emperors and a few saints), meaning "greatest." Popularity: Massimo did not rank on the top 1000 baby names in 2010, but there were 148 baby boys born named Massimo and 5 named Massimiliano. In 2011 there were 107 named Massimo. Fun fact: (1) The name Maksim is also a variant of Maximilian. (2) Massimo has been the surname of many powerful Roman families. (3) Saint Massimo, a 5th century bishop. (4) Massimo D'Alema, Italian Prime Minister. (5) Massimo Capra, Canadian celebrity chef. .
Post a Comment
Read more

Elowen

Elowen is a recent Cornish baby name meaning "elm." It may not take off in America like the last Cornish hit, Jennifer, but it's certainly pretty. She's part of a "linguistic revival," as Appellation Mountain puts it  here . Her nickname could be Ellie, Elle or Ella, or a more unusual choice, Wendy. The pronunciation of Elowen is "ell-LOH-en," though most Americans will probably stick with "ELL-oh-wen." Please note that it is not spelled Elowyn. There is a similar name, Eowyn, but if you spell it Elowyn it will no longer be the Cornish name meaning elm tree, just some creative name. Other great Cornish names include Penrose, Chesten (the Cornish form of Christine), Demelza, Denzel, Hammitt, Kerensa/Kerenza, Meraud (very similar to French gem name Emeraude, both meaning emerald, but Meraud is pronounced "meh-row"), Merryn, Morwenna, Tremain, Emblyn, Jory, Massen, Treeve and Cotton. Here's 's a link to a post on Cornish n...
2 comments
Read more