Indigo
Indigo is given to both girls and boys: 318 girls and 113 boys were given it in 2025 (#854 among girls’ names and #1,531 among boys’, #1,307 among all names counting both); 5,242 Americans have been recorded with it since 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,200 Americans named Indigo and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 18.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Indigo by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Indigo mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Indigo is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Indigo?
#854 among girls’ names, 2025
Indigo rose from #1,747 in 2015 to #854 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.07 to 0.20 per 1,000.
431 babies in 2025, the peak
Indigo peaked in 2025, when 431 babies were given it (318 girls, #854 among girls’ names). In 2024 it went to 289 girls.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 318 | #854 | 113 | #1,531 |
| 2024 | 289 | #921 | 106 | #1,613 |
| 2023 | 270 | #961 | 97 | #1,720 |
| 2022 | 272 | #979 | 118 | #1,528 |
| 2021 | 300 | #901 | 86 | #1,819 |
| 2020 | 244 | #1,028 | 72 | #1,985 |
| 2019 | 191 | #1,231 | 55 | #2,437 |
| 2018 | 169 | #1,335 | 70 | #2,056 |
| 2017 | 167 | #1,381 | 54 | #2,398 |
| 2016 | 123 | #1,724 | 47 | #2,639 |
Every recorded year (39)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 120 | #1,747 | 54 | #2,394 |
| 2014 | 111 | #1,830 | 34 | #3,255 |
| 2013 | 82 | #2,272 | 18 | #5,044 |
| 2012 | 58 | #2,946 | 22 | #4,445 |
| 2011 | 64 | #2,742 | 19 | #4,882 |
| 2010 | 63 | #2,793 | 20 | #4,740 |
| 2009 | 68 | #2,689 | 20 | #4,818 |
| 2008 | 59 | #2,968 | 12 | #6,907 |
| 2007 | 55 | #3,143 | 12 | #6,801 |
| 2006 | 65 | #2,737 | 17 | #5,166 |
| 2005 | 64 | #2,644 | 19 | #4,534 |
| 2004 | 65 | #2,566 | 20 | #4,317 |
| 2003 | 71 | #2,350 | 21 | #4,030 |
| 2002 | 51 | #2,905 | 17 | #4,575 |
| 2001 | 46 | #3,061 | 10 | #6,631 |
| 2000 | 53 | #2,746 | 16 | #4,655 |
| 1999 | 53 | #2,647 | 19 | #3,892 |
| 1998 | 52 | #2,625 | 13 | #4,979 |
| 1997 | 69 | #2,054 | 13 | #4,767 |
| 1996 | 63 | #2,160 | 6 | #8,318 |
| 1995 | 53 | #2,428 | 12 | #4,905 |
| 1994 | 56 | #2,327 | 10 | #5,616 |
| 1993 | 60 | #2,194 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 75 | #1,875 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 69 | #1,996 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 15 | #5,928 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 7 | #8,872 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 5 | #10,863 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 5 | #8,782 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Indigo a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,242 Americans recorded as Indigo, 77% are girls and 23% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Indigo: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Indigo, and how old are they?
5,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 5,242 Americans ever recorded as Indigo. The median Indigo alive today is 8 years old; half are between 4 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 2,834 people named Indigo (2,212 women and girls, 622 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,010 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 422 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,210 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,560 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Indigo born?
The states with the most babies named Indigo are California, Texas and New York, with 30% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 40 | #1,164 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 37 | #1,046 | 0.5× |
| New York | 20 | #1,112 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 20 | #534 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 19 | #842 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 17 | #629 | 0.5× |
| Colorado | 15 | #559 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 14 | #705 | 0.5× |
| Oregon | 14 | #516 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 11 | #836 | 0.5× |
Where Indigo is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Indigo is most over-represented in Colorado: since 1971 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Indigo with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Indigo
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 Indigo and names like it
- Compare Indigo and PeaceBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sIndigo peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Indigo since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Indigo.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Indigo alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with IMost given first.