Short form of Scandinavian and German names beginning with the elementing, which refers to the Germanic god ING. In Sweden and Norway this is primarily a masculine name, elsewhere it is usually feminine.
From the Germanic *Ingwaz, possibly meaning "ancestor". This was the name of an obscure old Germanic fertility god who was considered the ancestor of the tribe the Ingaevones. It is possible he was an earlier incarnation of the god Freyr.
