|
||||
 [ 2 syll. ir-ma, irm-a ] The girl name Irma is pronounced ERMah KEY. Irma is of Germanic origin, and it is used mainly in the English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages. From the element irmin which means 'whole, immense, universal'. The name is derived from the short form of German names with the first element 'Irm-'. The name was first adopted by English speakers on a light scale in the late 19th century. The name was popularized in the USA by the radio comedy My Friend Irma (1940s), which had its success extended to film and television, and the comedy film Irma La Douce (1963), starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Variations of the name include the English and German Erma, the German and English Herma, the English Irmen, the English and German Irmgard, the English Irmina, and the English Irmine. Another variant of Irma is the German pet form Irmela. Irma is unusual as a baby name for girls. Its usage peaked modestly in 1911 with 0.139% of baby girls being given the name Irma. It ranked at #136 then. The baby name has since experienced a marked decline in frequency, and is of only sporadic use now. Among all girl names in its group, Irma was nonetheless the most frequently used in 2008. Baby names that sound like Irma include the English and German Erma, the English Irmen, the English Irmine, the Welsh Aeron, the Welsh Aeronwen, the Welsh Aeronwy, the English Aireen, the Tamil Aram, the English Eiren, the English and Greek Eirene, the English and Irish Erin, the English Erinn, the English Erinne, the German Ermin, the English Ermine, the English, German, Scandinavian, and Spanish Erna, the English and Irish Eryn, the Estonian Urmi, the English Irmina, and the Welsh Aerona. KEY: Pronunciation for Irma: ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
