Imo
Imo was last recorded in 1983, when 5 babies were given it; 908 Americans have been recorded with it between 1885 and 1983 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Imo by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Imo?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,452, in 1957; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
34 babies in 1922, the peak
Imo peaked in 1922, when 34 girls were given it, #1,387 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | 5 | #6,452 | 2.4 |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,893 | 2.7 |
| 1951 | 9 | #3,823 | 5.0 |
| 1948 | 8 | #4,011 | 4.7 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,654 | 3.8 |
| 1945 | 9 | #3,233 | 6.9 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,761 | 8.6 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,894 | 5.2 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,454 | 10.8 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,349 | 11.4 |
Every recorded year (60)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 11 | #2,656 | 10.0 |
| 1938 | 9 | #3,026 | 8.2 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,872 | 16.9 |
| 1936 | 9 | #2,958 | 8.7 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,810 | 18.1 |
| 1934 | 23 | #1,572 | 22.0 |
| 1933 | 21 | #1,678 | 20.8 |
| 1932 | 33 | #1,280 | 30.9 |
| 1931 | 20 | #1,769 | 18.8 |
| 1930 | 28 | #1,478 | 24.9 |
| 1929 | 34 | #1,295 | 30.5 |
| 1928 | 34 | #1,322 | 29.5 |
| 1927 | 34 | #1,393 | 28.5 |
| 1926 | 32 | #1,428 | 27.0 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,864 | 18.1 |
| 1924 | 17 | #2,247 | 13.6 |
| 1923 | 27 | #1,612 | 22.4 |
| 1922 | 34 | #1,387 | 28.3 |
| 1921 | 24 | #1,793 | 19.5 |
| 1920 | 28 | #1,567 | 23.4 |
| 1919 | 22 | #1,774 | 19.5 |
| 1918 | 19 | #1,992 | 16.4 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,740 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,652 | 21.1 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,460 | 12.2 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,629 | 22.3 |
| 1913 | 12 | #1,820 | 19.2 |
| 1912 | 14 | #1,506 | 25.1 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,590 | 23.9 |
| 1910 | 7 | #2,023 | 17.7 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,529 | 25.9 |
| 1908 | 12 | #1,232 | 35.9 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,567 | 25.1 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,633 | 23.7 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,413 | 29.1 |
| 1903 | 9 | #1,254 | 34.4 |
| 1902 | 12 | #1,048 | 45.4 |
| 1900 | 10 | #1,264 | 33.4 |
| 1898 | 10 | #1,138 | 38.6 |
| 1897 | 12 | #949 | 51.2 |
| 1896 | 10 | #1,080 | 42.0 |
| 1895 | 13 | #912 | 55.6 |
| 1894 | 10 | #1,027 | 44.9 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,551 | 23.5 |
| 1891 | 9 | #971 | 48.5 |
| 1890 | 8 | #1,048 | 42.0 |
| 1889 | 8 | #985 | 44.9 |
| 1888 | 6 | #1,202 | 33.6 |
| 1887 | 8 | #896 | 54.8 |
| 1885 | 9 | #769 | 67.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Imo a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Imo has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 61 years of records.
Girls and boys named Imo: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Imo, and how old are they?
An estimated 97 Americans named Imo and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 201 people named Imo (145 women and girls, 56 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 174 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Imo rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 8,002 babies since 1880, Imo is the second most given (11% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Imo
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Imo and names like it
- Compare Imo and ImaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sImo peaked in 1922.
- Arkansas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Imo since 1910.
- The top names of 1922The year the most babies were named Imo.
- Names starting with IMost given first.