Dog Names That Start With I

This cutesy nickname is best known as that of Imogene Threadgoode in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

Iria is a diminutive version of Eirene / Irene and is therefore associated with the Greek goddess of peace.

This is a Greenlandic girls' name made famous when Princess Mary and Prince Frederik named their twin daughter Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda.

Simple African name all-but-unknown in the U.S. and Europe, which is exactly why it might make a perfect choice. Similarity to such popular names as Ava and Eva (and the Irish Aoife) makes it more familiar, but potentially more confusing.

Ivanna / Ivana both come out of the name "John" by way of the Russian variant Ivan. Whereas Joanna feels dated, Ivanna feels cosmopolitan and fresh. Ivanka (of Trump fame) is a diminutive version of Ivanna.

The Isidora spelling, though equally legitimate, is about 90 percent less common than Isadora.

Another Spanish boys' name that relates to a goddess, the Egyptian Isis. San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid.

For the parent who genuinely wants something different, this nature choice is popular in Spain. Downside: connection to words irate and irritation.

Icy baby names are currently hot, with names like Icelynn and Iceland trending up for girls. Rapper Gucci Mane chose simple, streamlined Ice for his son 2020-born son, appropriately a winter baby. In 2021, it debuted on the charts for both boys and girls (9 boys, 6 girls).

Icelyn and its more popular sister Icelynn have been among the fastest-rising girls' names in the US in recent years.

Feels more modern than the Y version but also less authentic.

Innogen is the Shakespearean name that never was. Most sources will tell you that Shakespeare intended to use Innogen for a character in Cymbeline, but his printer mistook the twos Ns for an M, thus inventing Imogen. This may or may not be true — Imogen seems to have existed before his time, and Shakespeare may have changed the spelling on purpose — but nevertheless, it makes for a great name story.

This charming Japanese name, with two meanings every little boy would love to have, was briefly in the Canadian Top 100 in the early 20th Century. There are many famous bearers of the name, such as architect Isamu Noguchi and physicist Isamu Akasaki.

A novel creation in the vein of Amari and Akari. Imari is also a place name, connected to the Japanese city, and is the English term for Arita porcelain.

Izya is a unisex Russian nickname. For boys, it's a short form for Isaak and Isidor, the variations of Isaac and Isidore used in Russia. The A ending will make Izya read as a feminine name to English speakers.

Ifor seems to make more sense in its Anglicized version, Ivor.

Ingeborg (and all Germanic and Scandinavian names beginning with Ing-) references the ancient fertility god Ing. Ing, later known as Freyr, is one of the primary gods in Old Norse mythology.

Irya is an Irina diminutive, and rare even in its native country.

This name of a California desert town, used by Deborah Falconer and Robert Downey, Jr. for their son, makes a much livelier and more individual – not to mention more masculine – improvisation on the themes of India and Indiana.