Meaning: Its source is Innogen, a Gaelic name meaning "Maiden."

Alternative Spellings: Imogine, Imojean and Imojeen

Variant Forms: Emogene

Popularity: The name Imogene ranked 623rd in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Though this name has fluctuated in use, it has been quietly present throughout the last century.

Narrative: This name first appeared in William Shakespeare's play Cymbeline, but an eyewitness to a 1611 performance reports the name as ''Innogen.''

That was also the name of the first Queen of the Britons as it appears in Shakespeare's likely source material, leading to the suspicion that a typesetter ''invented'' the name Imogen through misreading a handwritten script of the play.

Shakespeare never had a chance to edit the results; like many of his plays, Cymbeline did not appear in print during his lifetime.