Comments (Meaning / History Only)

I have seen comments below suggesting that Shakespeare would have corrected a misspelling and thus the origin story must be a myth. It is a common misconception that plays were printed prior to performance. In fact, whilst Cymbeline was first performed in 1611, it was not printed until the First Folio in 1623 - after Shakespeare’s death. It is therefore completely plausible that Shakespeare used the more traditional form ‘Innogen’ but the printer mistook the written manuscript for Imogen and accidentally created a new name.Innogen is a fantastic character, a strong and faithful princess!I personally like both forms of the name. Imogen is a relatively common name in England and is usually pronounced IM-oh-jun.
Innogen is another version of this name.
Since the name Imogen appears printed that way several dozen times in Shakespeare's Cymbeline, it is much more likely that this was an intentional adaptation on Shakespeare's part rather than an accidental printing error. He made a similar change from the traditional Cordeilla to his version Cordelia for his King Lear.
"Inghean", the Gaelic word from which this name comes, actually means "daughter". The root that "inghean" came from meant "girl", but for the most part it means daughter now.The Irish descendant of "inghean", "iníon", strictly means "daughter".The Scottish descentant of "inghean", "nighean", can mean "girl" but its primary meaning is "daughter".
In Gaelic it means maiden but in Hebrew it means Image of her Mother.
It was always my understanding that this name was indeed a misprint of Innogen from Shakespeare's Cymbeline, but that it was derived from the Greek words "Inno" (beloved) and "Gen" (child) rather than from the Irish.

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