Hermine
Feminine · “army man”
Hermine is also the French and German word for the ermine, and the animal is worth knowing about. It is a stoat that turns white in winter and keeps a black tip on its tail, and the fur, with those black tips left in as a pattern, became the most tightly restricted luxury in medieval Europe: judges, peers and monarchs, and nobody else.
How old is the name Hermine?
Hermine was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Hermine alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 300 people named Hermine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hermine most popular?
Hermine peaked in 1893, reaching #630 nationally. See the whole 1893 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Germanic compound of army and man to Hermine
The story of Hermine
The fur made a good badge because the pattern is unmistakable and cannot be imitated cheaply. Sumptuary laws across medieval Europe restricted it by rank, sometimes down to the number of rows of tails a person could display, and English judges still wear it. Brittany took the animal as its emblem, with a motto that translates as rather death than dishonour, on the strength of a story about a duchess who watched an ermine refuse to cross mud and decided the animal would rather die than be soiled. The story is almost certainly invented after the fact to explain a badge that already existed, which is the usual relationship between heraldry and its explanations. The name and the animal have run alongside each other in French and German for so long that the two are impossible to separate in the minds of anyone who speaks either language.
Meaning
army man, in the feminine
As a personal name it is a feminine of Herman, joining the Germanic words for an army and a man, and the reading is settled. The identity with the word for the animal is a coincidence: that word comes into French from a Germanic root about the Armenian mouse or possibly from the same source as the name, and the two have been spelled identically for centuries without being related in any way that matters.
How the name formed
- A Germanic compound of army and man
- Feminines built on it across German and French
- The same word naming the ermine and its fur
- Hermine in American records with German families
Related forms: Hermine · Hermine · Hermina
Pronouncing Hermine
her-MEEN
Two syllables in French and English with the stress at the back. German gives it three, her-MEE-nuh, with a final vowel that English drops, and that is the main difference between the two national versions.
Nicknames for Hermine
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 191651 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #630reached in 1893
- Change vs 1961
- +14.3%8 in 1973, from 7
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.
Hermine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hermine in German — same name
- Hermine in French — same name
- Hermina in Dutch — spelling variant
Hermines among us
people named Hermine are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Hermine sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a genuine European name used unchanged in French, German and Dutch.
- Mina is waiting inside it and stands alone anywhere.
- It has an unusually good piece of history attached that almost nobody knows.
- It will be heard as Hermione by a good number of people on a first introduction.
- The German and the French pronunciations differ by a syllable and both are correct.
- It is firmly of an older generation in American records.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Hermine 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 Hermine? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Hermine
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hermines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Hermine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hermine in 2025?
- Hermine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Hermine with classmates?
- Hermine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hermine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hermine 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