Imogen (given name) explained

Gender:	Female
Meaning:	Unknown, possibly "maiden", "girl", or “beloved child”
Origin:	Unknown, possibly Celtic or Germanic
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.

Origin

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 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.

Popularity

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]

People

• 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
• (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

• 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
• 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
• 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 , 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.

Notes and References

1. Book: A World of Baby Names . Penguin . Norman, Teresa . 2003 . 131. 978-0-399-52894-1 .
2. Encyclopedia: Innogen daughter of Pandrasus . A Welsh Classical Dictionary . 7 . Peter C. . Bartrum . Peter Bartrum . 1993 . 2009 . MPS . . 442 .
3. John Pitcher, 'Names in Cymbeline', Essays in Criticism, v. 43(1), 1993, specifically pp. 3–8; subscription required.
4. Book: Brown, Michele . The New Book of First Names . 1985 . . 154 . 9780552122573 .
5. Book: Anglo-Norman Studies XIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference . 1990 . Marjorie Chibnall . 168.
6. News: 17 August 2015 . The 100 most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2014 – the full list . https://web.archive.org/web/20160923181212/https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/ng-interactive/2015/aug/17/100-most-popular-baby-names-england-wales-full-list . 23 September 2016 . The Guardian.
7. News: Australia's top 10 baby names. 5 May 2015. 6 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151206231832/http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/babies/australias-top-10-baby-names/news-story/740a8b651053fc93a90200de9e619767. News.com.au. News Corp Australia. Rebecca. Sullivan.
8. http://www.behindthename.com/top/search.php?terms=imogen Behind the Name
9. News: The most popular baby names of 2014 so far are.... https://web.archive.org/web/20160401194210/http://www.today.com/parents/baby-names-imogen-asher-top-list-2014-so-far-1D79899236. 1 April 2016. 9 July 2014. Pamela. Redmond Satran. Today Parents.