Inge

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Inge is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Danish given name103K records spelled Inge7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, United States, Sweden

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish

  Also written Ínge, Ingé

• Spanish given name16K records spelled Inge6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, Spain, United States, Chile

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Ínge, Ingé, Inģe

• Indonesian given name5.7K records spelled Inge3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Netherlands, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Inge

• Finnish given name4.1K records spelled Inge3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, Netherlands, Sweden

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Ingê

• a separate given name3.0K records spelled Inge2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium

  Also written Înge

59 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Inge is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Short form of names beginning with Ing-; associated with the god Ing.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, probably from the Germanic female personal name Inga.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In German, a diminutive of the female given names Ingeborg, Ingeburg, or Ingrid, masculine equivalent Ingo or Ingolf, also diminutive of other Germanic compound names beginning with Ing(e) "the god Ing/Yngvi"; variant form Inga

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Danish, a female given name from Old Norse

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, William, English prelate, author

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

NO SSB — Navn (1880–present) — 66 years between 1945–2023. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Inge I of Norwayb. 1135NONorwegian King
• Inge II of Norwayb. 1185NOKing of Norway
• Inge Lehmannb. 1888DKDanish seismologist who discovered the Earth's inner core (1888-1993)
• Inge Meyselb. 1910DEGerman actress (1910–2004)
• Inge Morathb. 1923ATAustrian photographer (1923-2002)
• Inge Sørensenb. 1924DKDanish swimmer
• Inge Heltenb. 1950DEGerman sprinter
• Stig Inge Bjørnebyeb. 1969NONorwegian association football player and manager
• Inge de Bruijnb. 1973NLDutch swimmer, Olympic gold medalist, world champion, former world record-holder
• Inge Dekkerb. 1985NLDutch swimmer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 553 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Inge?

We estimate roughly 44 thousand people bear Inge (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Inge have the most bearers?

Inge is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled inge.

Where is Inge most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Inge is densest in Denmark — about 1 in 311 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Inge compared with other names?

In Germany, Inge is the 201st most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Inge a male or female name?

Inge is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Inge mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) from the Old English male personal name Ing or Inga, a shortened form of names beginning Ing-, from a Germanic fertility god; (ii) ‘person from Ing’, Essex (‘(place of) Giga’s people’)