Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his August 29 column, he looks at the history of the name Ingrid.
Ingrid is the modern form of Old Norse “Ingríðr.” It combines the name of the god Ing or Yngvi with fríðr, “beautiful.” Other Norse names honoring Yngvi are male Ingmar, “Ing is famous,” and Ingvar, “Ing’s warrior.” Ingeborg, “Ing’s protection,” and Ingegerd, “Ing’s enclosure,” are feminine.
In the 1910 U.S. Census, there were 6,592 Ingas, 3,584 Ingeborgs and 1,812 Ingers — mostly Scandinavian immigrants and their daughters. There were only 1,222 Ingrids.
That March, Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and his wife, Margaret (a granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria), named their only daughter Princess Ingrid. She later wed Danish Crown Prince Frederik, becoming queen of Denmark in 1947.
Ingrid Bergman was named after the young princess — as were many other Swedish girls. It was Bergman herself, though, who spread the name far beyond Sweden. Read on to find out more about Ingrids in history!