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Original poster

Imogen - is it Irish or Welsh?

32 replies

SaltResistantSlug · 24/05/2012 20:34

Have read conflicting info on tinternet and wonder if anyone can say for certain one way our the other...

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CroydianSlip · 07/06/2021 22:34

I wanted to use Imogen for dd. DH said it was 'too welsh' which I took exception to but it turns out it made him think of Imogsn from Big Brother, who was Welsh.

I liked the idea of Mog as a nickname!

I then read the Shakespeare transcription theory and quite liked Innogen as a name but when I mentioned it to a colleague they pointed out it sounded like an electricity supplier...

I still think Imogen is a lovely name!

TatianaBis · 07/06/2021 22:24

That’s because we live in an age of literacy, mass printing and established spellings which was not the case in Shakespeare’s time.

Altho, Hannah is also spelt Channah from the Hebrew, Hanna, Hanni etc.

LizzieAnt · 07/06/2021 21:46

Hmm, I'm not sure about that really. Not a mistake, certainly, but if I decided to adapt the name Hannah to Hamah, for example, I would be (deliberately) misspelling and mispronouncing the original name.

It's all conjecture, anyway, as far as Imogen goes, as the origins of the name aren't certain afaik. A quick google turns up an 11th century Imogen in Brittany too.

TatianaBis · 07/06/2021 16:52

Intentional adaptation is not a mis-spelling.

LizzieAnt · 07/06/2021 16:49

Yes, it could have been on purpose, but a misspelling in any case (if the theory's correct).

TatianaBis · 07/06/2021 16:16

I’ve never bought the transcription error line. It’s more likely IMO that Shakespeare took an existing name and changed it how he fancied.

IsFuzzyBeagMise · 07/06/2021 15:41

@mathanxiety

Sorry, there wouldn't have been a H in an Irish name until the early 20th century when H was introduced. The spelling would have been approximately ingean (and variations of Ingean). In Irish the G would have had more of a Y sound ('ingyan') but a reader of English would probably have pronounced it as an English G.
That's interesting. My dd's friend is Imogen. It's a lovely name.
LizzieAnt · 07/06/2021 15:37

If Imogen does come from a Shakespearean transcription error - as it is widely thought it might - it is Irish as mathanxiety has said. It was used to mean 'daughter of' in names. Ní is used in modern Irish. For example, Gormflaith ingen Murchada (Gormflaith daughter of Murchad) was the name an Irish queen born in the 10th century.

KirstenBlest · 07/06/2021 14:03

If it was welsh, it would be pronounced Im-OGG-en, which it isn't.
As others pp, it's from Shakespeare

TatianaBis · 07/06/2021 13:45

It’s def Shakespeare and neither Irish nor Welsh.

Love it.

fluffysunshine · 07/06/2021 13:34

What about Gwen or Imogen ? I think a Imogen is Welsh.

I also like Nerys as an alternative.

rhetorician · 25/05/2012 20:57

didn't realise that math - that's lovely. Wish we'd used it now

mathanxiety · 25/05/2012 20:55

Sorry, there wouldn't have been a H in an Irish name until the early 20th century when H was introduced. The spelling would have been approximately ingean (and variations of Ingean). In Irish the G would have had more of a Y sound ('ingyan') but a reader of English would probably have pronounced it as an English G.

mathanxiety · 25/05/2012 20:46

Innogen was itself a corruption of the 16th century Irish word for daughter, 'inghean' (in modern Irish 'iníon') or so it is alleged.

rhetorician · 25/05/2012 20:37

neither, certainly not Irish. But a lovely name, would have used it for dd2, but DP doesn't like it. can have Jen as nn, which I also like

QueenElizaBeatHer · 25/05/2012 20:37

emphaticmaybe That's what I've heard too (my mini-beast is called Imogen. Gorgeous name!)

mejon · 25/05/2012 20:35

So your reversing your 'Welsh defo' stance then Lunarlyte?! Wink

Lunarlyte · 25/05/2012 15:46

Let's finish this!

According to the Puffin 'Dictionary of First Names' Imogen is an English name that is a mistaken reading of the Celtic Innogen.

The mistake was made by Shakespere in Cymbeline - the 'nn' was written 'm'.

HTH!

chipmonkey · 25/05/2012 15:35

Not Irish.

GoPoldark · 25/05/2012 14:44

Not Welsh at all!!

I thought it was kind of old Englishy/Germanic.

grammar · 25/05/2012 14:39

William Shakespeare's Cymbeline, methinks it's English.

CakeBump · 25/05/2012 14:36

Not Welsh, as others have said.

Marisaurus · 25/05/2012 14:29

Neither - a Shakespeare invention. So perhaps from Stratford?

Cassettetapeandpencil · 25/05/2012 14:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DogEared · 25/05/2012 14:23

Like mejon I am native Welsh speaker and it isn't Welsh.