Inga
A feminine Scandinavian name of uncertain meaning, possibly meaning "protected by Ing".
Name Census estimates that about 2,262 living Americans carry the first name Inga. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Inga today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Inga births was 1969 (115 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Inga. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Inga with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 151,527 Americans
Peak year
1969
115 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,618
Tracked since 1880
Census
Inga in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,196 people with the first name Inga, which placed it at #4,451 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,451
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,196 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Inga
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inga is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Inga described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Inga at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 3,363
- Black or African American13.0% · 544
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 121
- Two or more races2.5% · 103
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
Popularity
Inga: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Inga from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 635 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Inga by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Inga during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ingas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Minnesota, New York recorded the most babies named Inga, while Maryland, Alabama, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Inga
The name Inga has its origins in the Old Norse language, derived from the name Ingrid, which itself is a combination of the Old Norse elements "Ing" (meaning "ancestor" or "lord") and "fríðr" (meaning "beautiful" or "fair"). Inga emerged as a shortened form of Ingrid during the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the late 11th century.
The name Inga was particularly popular in Scandinavia, especially in the regions of present-day Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the Vikings had a significant cultural influence. It was also adopted in other parts of Northern Europe, including Germany and the Baltic regions, as the Vikings expanded their reach through trade and conquest.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Inga can be found in the Old Norse sagas, which are prose narratives that recount the lives and adventures of Scandinavian rulers, warriors, and mythological figures. These sagas, such as the Heimskringla and the Poetic Edda, were composed between the 9th and 13th centuries and often featured characters with names like Inga.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Inga. One of the earliest examples is Inga of Sweden (c. 1075 - c. 1112), a Swedish princess and the daughter of King Halsten Stenkilsson. Another early figure was Inga of Varteig (c. 1185 - c. 1234), a Norwegian noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the power struggles of the Norwegian civil wars.
In more recent times, Inga Arvad (1913 - 1973) was a Danish-American actress and author who was known for her alleged romantic involvement with President John F. Kennedy during his time as a naval officer in the 1940s. Inga Gentzer (1908 - 1991) was a Swedish actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career.
Additionally, Inga Clendinnen (1936 - 2016) was an Australian historian and academic who specialized in the study of the early modern period, particularly the interactions between European colonizers and indigenous populations in the Americas. Her works, such as "Ambivalent Conquests" and "Reading the Holocaust," made significant contributions to the field of historiography.
The name Inga has maintained a presence throughout the centuries, although its popularity has varied across different regions and time periods. Its strong ties to Scandinavian culture and history have ensured that it remains a recognizable and enduring name in many parts of the world.
People
Inga + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Inga as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Inga: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Inga?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,262 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Inga going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 151,527 US residents.
Is Inga a common name?
We classify Inga as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Inga most popular?
The single biggest year for Inga was 1969, when 115 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Inga is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Inga in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,196 people with the name Inga, or 1.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,451 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Inga in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Inga?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Inga appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,193 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Inga?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inga is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Black (13.0%) and Hispanic (2.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Inga most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Inga in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (3,363 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Inga in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Inga a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Inga in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Inga still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Inga in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Inga can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Inga?
Find out how many Americans are named Inga on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.