Holding steady, #9,457 for girls today.
Popularity of Inga since 1880
Babies named Inga per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1969, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Inga's real moment was 1889.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 216 |
| 1890s | 400 |
| 1900s | 248 |
| 1910s | 330 |
| 1920s | 214 |
| 1930s | 135 |
| 1940s | 144 |
| 1950s | 261 |
| 1960s | 608 |
| 1970s | 635 |
| 1980s | 306 |
| 1990s | 171 |
| 2000s | 158 |
| 2010s | 210 |
| 2020s | 91 |
Meaning & origin
Inga is a Scandinavian name with ancient Germanic roots, tied to the fertility god Ing. It has maintained a stable but low level of use in the United States, ranking 9,457 in 2025 with roughly 1 in every 160,000 female newborns receiving the name. Its peak year in the U.S. was 1889, when it was most frequently recorded among immigrants from Scandinavia. Today, Inga remains an uncommon choice but carries a strong cultural heritage.
Inga is a feminine form of Inge, derived from the name of the Germanic god Ing or Yngvi, associated with the Ingvaeones tribe. The name has been used in Scandinavia since the Viking Age and remains a traditional given name in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. It was also adopted in German-speaking regions. In Icelandic, the equivalent is Inga, and it is often considered a short form of names like Ingrid or Ingibjörg.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Ing, Inge
Variants: Inge, Inka
Sibling names for Inga
Names that share Inga's style, for a brother or sister.
