David Bowie met a girl called Blue Jean back in 1984, but you’re more likely to meet a child wearing this colorful appellation.
Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting Indigo as Baby Name of the Day.
If Scarlet and Violet are acceptable given names with some history of use, why not Indigo? The story is at least as ancient and compelling as many a nature name – maybe more.
Indigo is the blue of blue jeans, a staple so common that rare is the American who doesn’t own a pair or three. But once upon a time, indigo was a commodity so precious it was called blue gold. The color actually falls somewhere between blue and purple. (It depends on your perspective – there are many ways to parse and categorize color.) The dye is also one source of the purple color of royalty, among the few to afford garments made with the precious stuff.
The word refers to the place the Western World first encountered the hue: India. The Greek indikon means from India; it became indicum in Latin, indico in Spanish, and eventually indigo in English, sometime in the late thirteenth century.
Derived from a family of flowering shrubs called the indigofera, it was exported to ancient Greece and Rome at great profit. Other ancient civilizations developed similar processes.
Add it all up, and Indigo emerges as a nature name with a luxurious undercurrent. It’s certainly more subtle than Armani or Chanel. And yet, Indigo has an over-the-top vibe, maybe because:
- A number of fictional uses, including a 1992 retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, retitled Indigo, by Marina Warner, and a 2002 young adult novel by Alice Hoffman, plus Ntozake Shange’s 1982 Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo. Each of the nature names in the title belongs to one of her creative characters;
- It’s been heard in Hollywood circles. Lou Diamond Phillips gave the name to his daughter in 2007;
- Ditto Blue and Bleu, names that are almost unsurprising with bestowed as a starbaby middle.
If your daughters are Ruby and Jade, Indigo might seem like the rare color choice that could work for a son. Despite several female references, including 1990s folk phenom The Indigo Girls, you’ll see him listed as an option for boys, too. Indigo sounds close to the masculine name Inigo – which may be related to Ignatius, and is familiar thanks to The Princess Bride – as well as Indio, a California place name used by Robert Downey, Jr. for a son.
Indigo could also appeal to the same parents who embrace Aura. There’s a vaguely spiritual, New Age vibe to this choice, thanks to a number of traditions linking the color to intuition and the third eye. Some believe indigo children possess certain supernatural abilities.
For now, Indigo has never appeared in the US Top 1000 for either gender. Nickname Indy is equally gender neutral. Nancy tells us that there were 20 boys called Indigo in 2009, against 67 girls. Odds are good that this isn’t a future Top Ten choice. But if you’re interested in a gender-neutral nature name with a long history, rich with meaning, Indigo could be an option.
Our daughter’s name is Indigo as well, nick name Indie. Her sister is Phoenix – also a good gender neutral nature name with a rich history. We’re Asian American so I like that both names have some roots in the East and some roots in the West.
Our daughter is named Indigo. We loved that it was different but you could spell it and pronounce it. No one forgets her name and people tend to comment “That is different.” if they do not like it and we get all kinds of comments from people if they love it. We paired it with Quinn so her initials are IQ. 🙂
Fun to read. We named our daughter Indigo (nickname Indy) in 2004. It seems to get mixed reviews with people (not such a hit with the over 50 crowd). Naming her brother Finn has the added benefit of blending into Findigo when calling them inside 🙂
And Indigo Casson, of Hilary McKay’s Casson books (brother to Cadmium “Caddy”, Saffron and Rose, uncle to Carlos “Buttercup”, Jassy and Juniper.)
The first time I heard this was on an actress on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I thought it odd, but interesting. Now there’s a baby in my parents’ hipster neighborhood called Indigo. Her playmates are Truman and (g) Finley. So she fits in there. In any of the small towns I end up in, due to my family’s military status, she’d be an oddity. I think I’d rather live like I do, where intersting names stand alone, than in my parents’ neighborhood where every intersting name is forgettable because they are all like that. It’s a bit competative, if you ask me. Just like if you’re a Hollywood star, you feel the need to come up with something whackadoodle (Satyana? Really?) for your kid.
Indigo is a daring name, but I’m really of two minds about this one. Wild indigo (baptisia) is one of my favorite plants and makes me think of old-fashioned flower names like Calla and Tansy. On the other hand, it makes me think of new-age parenting books and crackpot celebrity parents (one in particular who’s son was supposed to be an indigo child.)
I guess, what I’m saying is… I like it, but I wouldn’t use it for my own child.
I’ve always thought of Indigo as a rather fun appellation daring parents who like word-names might give to their daughter, I’d never considered it for a boy before. However, I can see how this name could fit either sex, especially when you take into account the nickname Indy.
I know a 12 year old boy named Indigo who lives in NC – only child, so no fun sib set names available. His parents live a very outdoorsy, organics-focused life.
This name absolutely fascinates me Abby. It’s popped up on multiple lists from my readers and clients, most of whom are from Australia but I believe also from a San Francisco couple. It’s being considered for both boys and girls, as you said. Locally, I’ve heard it in use by several African-Amercan families and didn’t know what the reference point was. The Ntozake Shange novel helps solve a piece of the puzzle. Thank you!
I see Indigo’s siblings as being Orion, Willow, and RIver.
My brother’s name is actually Orion (my own name is Indigo.)
Very interesting! Living in central Texas, Azure is the “blue” baby name of choice here. I had to giggle a bit last summer. I volunteered at the children’s camp at our church and one group of girls had a Ruby, Emerald, Azure and Violet in it! 🙂
Those four girls were destined to be BFF’s I believe!
What a colorful quartet! And yes, they need to be the best of friends, and possibly inspire a series of young adult novels along the lines of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. 🙂