Indigo
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Meaning
the blue-purple dye/color, from Greek 'indikon'
The story
Indigo looks like pure color, but its word history carries a map and a wound. The dye name came through Greek and Latin expressions meaning from India, where plants producing the deep blue had long been cultivated. Under European colonial rule, indigo could also mean coercion. In Champaran, British planters compelled farmers to devote land to the crop. A farmer named Rajkumar Shukla persistently persuaded Mohandas Gandhi to visit. When officials ordered Gandhi to leave, he refused, and the resulting inquiry became an early Indian satyagraha against the system. The name Indigo does not inherit guilt from a trade, and families may choose it simply for the color's beauty. Still, the beauty is more interesting when the labor behind the dye is not erased. Indigo holds sky and cloth, India embedded in a European word, and farmers who challenged the conditions under which blue was made.
How popular is Indigo around the world?
In the United States, 2,285 babies were named Indigo between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 5 girls were registered as Indigo in 2017.
Indigo is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Argentina and Spain.
United States
1 in 9,500
In the United States, 2,285 babies were named Indigo between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Indigo peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 3,7002017
In South Australia, 5 girls were registered as Indigo in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 6,200
In England and Wales, 82 girls named Indigo were born in 2025, the 483rd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
1 in 14,000
In Ireland, 4 girls named Indigo were born in 2025, the 718th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 30,000
In Canada, 12 girls named Indigo were born in 2024, ranked 1,854th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Argentina
1 in 74,000
In Argentina, 9 newborns were given the name Indigo in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Spain
1 in 800,000
In Spain, 56 residents are named Indigo, ranked 13,213th among men, with a mean age of 5.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
last on record 2024
Indigo is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
New Zealand
last on record 2023
Indigo is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Scotland
last on record 2021
Indigo is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Indigo
Most people given the name Indigo in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Indigo deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Indigo truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Indigo fits with your family’s names and surname.
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