Thoughts on Ermintrude?

Please give me your thoughts on the name Ermintrude with the possible nicknames of [name_f]Minnie[/name_f], [name_f]Erma[/name_f], [name_f]Erminia[/name_f], [name_f]Erminie[/name_f]? Thank You! :slight_smile:

Eck. It is like a mumbling of the words - am I going to intrude.

I’m going to say it might be a hard name to wear, but I kind of love it, especially with the NN options you’ve given

Sorry, but my first thought was “Cow’s name” for some reason… [name_f]Minnie[/name_f] is cute as a nickname but I dislike [name_f]Erma[/name_f]. It sounds fusty and harsh to me, so it would probably be hard for a modern girl to wear.
[name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] would be better, and I guess [name_f]Millicent[/name_f] is kind of the same style if your looking for alternatives…

[name_u]Love[/name_u] the name for a cat. Pretty hard on a little girl unless she looks like a supermodel and even then…

I think this would be a hard name to pull off. [name_f]Erminia[/name_f] or Eminie are more wearable options, I think

I quite like Ermintrude/Irmintrude a lot, although I think [name_f]Erminie[/name_f] alone is probably more usable (and quite trendy in [name_f]France[/name_f] now, I think?)

I do adore Ermengarde too, the name of a little girl in A [name_m]Little[/name_m] [name_f]Princess[/name_f] which is the biggest reason I find it appealing, but I do think they’re both lovely with such a great old-Germanic feel. I also like the idea of them feeling sweet, new, exotic during the Victorian times :slight_smile:

I’m going to be the party pooper here. I like Ermintrude. I think it will be hard to wear in the same way [name_f]Bernadette[/name_f], [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f], [name_f]Olga[/name_f], [name_f]Ingrid[/name_f], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f], [name_f]Thomasina[/name_f], [name_f]Ernestina[/name_f], and [name_f]Astrid[/name_f] would be all because we have the uncanning ability to only see them on our great Grandparents and possible Grandparents depending on when they were born. I have heard this referred to as the strope effect. While I have heard others advocate that [name_f]Mabel[/name_f] and many of the above names are worth bring back others hate them just as much.

In the end, it depends on how you feel about the name mostly, not really what other people may feel. [name_f]My[/name_f] name is [name_u]Winter[/name_u], and I heard adult make rude comments while the kids made none. [name_u]Winter[/name_u] dates as far back as the 9th century as a surname and 16th century as a first name, but many adults thought it was “MADE UP” and that people would make fun of the “made up” name, outside the adults who scorned untraditional names, it wasn’t made fun of by the kids.

We can’t exactly know what is and isn’t going to be fun of and by whom… Now [name_u]Winter[/name_u] is a perfectly fine name that has lost a lot of its luster because we hear it it all the time. Ermintrude is similar in some ways, it is dated from the outside, but inside it has a lot of sparkle. I have heard the names [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] and [name_f]Bernadette[/name_f] still used today, if clunky names like [name_f]Bernadette[/name_f] and [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f] have stood the test of time, I think a long clunker like Ermintrude can too. To be honest, I have heard some people consider [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], and [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f] stale clunkers as well. Now many will argue against that, but some people do no like name outside [name_m]Bob[/name_m] and [name_u]Sal[/name_u].

I [name_f]ADORE[/name_f] [name_f]Erma[/name_f] and [name_f]Ermine[/name_f] :).

Event though there are a lot of nickname possibilities it is just not a name to me and sounds like a mumbling of names/words.

I don’t know about Ermintrude. I don’t think it was ever a common enough name in the US to be anything but a caricature of a clunky, dorky Germanic name. In theory I like it, because of the association with the lovely white [name_f]Ermine[/name_f] fur and the cute -trude ending that I love, but I would never use it for an actual child.

Sorry, ick. Too long and doesn’t have a nice flow.

Thanks for your input! :slight_smile:

I did some research on the name Irmintrude/Ermintrude/Ermyntrude/Irmingard/Ermingard. It was in use, here in the U.S., Until the 19th century and than became sporadic. The short forms of the names took off. Short forms include: Emma, which derived from Ermintrude (VERY popular right now) and Irma (Eeer-Mah), which was the most popular in 1910. Irma saw a second rise which was in the late 1950’s-60’s, thanks to the radio show and television.

          • Older generation----
  • In 1968, In two issue of the magic roundabout" Ermintrude the cow, makes her appearances.

  • 1950-1960’s, the radio show and Television series, “My friend Irma”, made the peak again.

----- Teen/Young Adult generation----

  • The 1980’s and 1990’s born generation may recognize Irma from the; “the teenage Mutant Nija Turtles”, what with the movie being made, May bring the spot light back on the name again.

  • Adventures of Tin-Tin had an Irma character.

  • “Harry Potter”’ movies and books had a character named Irma Pince, already giving the name some exta literary cred and some attention on the name.

-------Other Books-----lesser known to the younger crowd…Mid generation----

Ermintrude was a character in Terry Pratchett’s book:“The Nation”, which takes place in the 1860’s, but was published in 2008.

Georgette Heyer’s book,“No Wind Of Blame”, published in 1939, the main character is named Ermyntrude, a widowed actress. The book is still being re-produced, Muder mystery, Agatha Christie style of books. note the ‘i’ was interchanged with ‘y’.

It seems after some research, Ermintrude and her short forms, are more familiar that they seem. Giving Ermintrude/Erymntrude/Irmintrude more solid ground to be used today. All the shorts forms seem to familiar with all ages/generations (1930-2014).

I think it’s absolutely gorgeous, but it unfortunately does have a clumsiness to it that I think would make it extremely difficult to wear. Which makes me sad, because I love it! If clunky names ever start to really come back (ala [name_f]Agnes[/name_f], [name_f]Mildred[/name_f], [name_f]Ethel[/name_f], [name_f]Wilma[/name_f]) then I think it’d be fine to use. But for now, nah.

The nicknames make it more approachable, though, and I particularly like [name_f]Erma[/name_f] and [name_f]Minnie[/name_f], just because of the simplicity. I think [name_f]Erminia[/name_f] and [name_f]Erminie[/name_f] would be better as full names themselves, if that makes any sense?

There’s also Erminlinda, Ermenegilda…also the straightforward [name_f]Ermine[/name_f] which I personally love.

Those “genre” of names are really coming back. I was reading a blog, the women whom wrote the blog is from [name_u]Texas[/name_u], mentioned that her daughter was starting Kindergarden, whom has a vintage name as well, will fit right in with her classmates. There are 30 kids, 15 of the 30, had older fashioned names. In Europe, it is coming back, according to this blog British [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Names.com. Your right, the diminutives make it reachable/familiar while still having something formal on paper.

I think it is delightful!

I am all for the reintroduction of the vintage clunky names. Ermintrude, called [name_f]Minnie[/name_f] or [name_f]Trudy[/name_f]? I think it’s adorbs. [name_f]Hildegard[/name_f] is another one I’d like to see return. I know one who goes by [name_f]Hildy[/name_f]. [name_u]Love[/name_u]!