Inger

Where Inger comes from

Inger hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1888
    First appearance
    #1,276 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1935
    Inger Christensen born
    poet, novelist, essayist, editor
  3. 1959
    Inger Nilsson born
    Swedish actress and singer
  4. 1966
    Peak, #929
    118 babies named Inger — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1967
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,460.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Inger Christensen · poet, novelist, essayist, editor, 1935–2009
  • Inger Nilsson · Swedish actress and singer, born 1959
  • Inger Stevens · Swedish-American actress, 1934–1970
  • Inger Miller · American athletics competitor, born 1972
  • Inger Jacobsen · Norwegian singer, 1923–1996

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.