Hermelinda
Feminine · “Germanic ermin and linde”
Spanish has the most Germanic name stock of any Romance language, and the reason is the Visigoths, who ruled Iberia for three hundred years. Rodrigo, Fernando, Alfonso, Elvira, Ramiro and Hermelinda are all Germanic names wearing Spanish spelling. None of them are Latin.
How old is the name Hermelinda?
Hermelinda first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Hermelinda alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 1,500 people named Hermelinda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hermelinda most popular?
Hermelinda peaked in 1953, reaching #1261 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,599 places below that high. See the whole 1953 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ermin to Hermelinda
The story of Hermelinda
The Visigothic kingdom held most of Iberia from the early sixth century until 711, and its aristocracy gave the peninsula a naming layer that survived the Arab conquest, the Reconquista and every later change of fashion. That is why Spanish and Portuguese carry Germanic names that other Romance languages lost: Rodrigo from Hrodric, Fernando from Fridunanth, Alfonso from Adalfuns, Elvira from Gailawira, Gonzalo from Gundisalv, and the whole -mundo and -linda families. Latin names by contrast came into Spanish mostly through the Church, arriving later and marked as religious rather than aristocratic. Hermelinda belongs to the older, secular, Germanic layer, and its American peak in the 1950s comes through Mexico, where the Visigothic stock was carried by Spanish settlement and has stayed in use continuously since.
Meaningscholars disagree
Germanic ermin and linde, whole and soft
Hermelinda joins two Germanic elements. The first is ermin or irmin, seen in Ermengarde and Emma, usually read as whole, universal or great, and connected to the god-name Irmin. The second is linde, which is either soft and gentle or the lime-wood of a shield, and the two readings have competed for a century without resolution. Compound Germanic names were often assembled for sound rather than sense, so the pair need not have meant anything together. The American peak is 1953.
How the name formed
- ermin
- Ermelinda
- Hermelinda
Related forms: Ermelinda · Ermelinda · Irmelinde
Pronouncing Hermelinda
er-meh-LEEN-dah
Four syllables, stress on the third. The h is silent in Spanish, which is why Hermelinda and Ermelinda are the same name written twice.
Nicknames for Hermelinda
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 195359 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1261reached in 1953
- Change vs 2022
- +83.3%11 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Hermelinda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ermelinda in Spanish — spelling variant
- Ermelinda in Italian — same name
- Irmelinde in German — related form
Hermelindas among us
people named Hermelinda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Hermelinda
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Vinita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hermelinda's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vinita climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vinita's path sketches the road Hermelinda is walking now.
Hermelinda sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Hermelinda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hermelinda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Linda works as a short form and is a familiar name on its own.
- It has an unbroken documented history of more than a thousand years.
- The Spanish pronunciation is completely regular.
- Four syllables is long and it will usually be shortened.
- The silent Spanish h confuses English readers.
- The second element has two competing meanings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Hermelinda to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Hermelinda? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Hermelinda
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hermelindas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Hermelinda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hermelinda in 2025?
- Hermelinda ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hermelinda?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Hermelinda — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hermelinda with classmates?
- Hermelinda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hermelinda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hermelinda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hermelinda and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle