Hermenegilda
Just 53 Polish women carry it, and no girl has been given it this century. Germanic at root, it means a whole sacrifice, once read as an immense treasure.
Hermenegilda Pronunciation
Hermenegilda is pronounced kher-me-ne-GEEL-dah (/xɛrmɛnɛˈgilda/).
What Hermenegilda means
Where Hermenegilda comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name comes from two Germanic roots. Ermen meant "whole" or "great," and gild meant "sacrifice" or "tribute." Together they give the sense kept on Polish name lists: pełne poświęcenie, a whole sacrifice. An older Gothic reading of the same parts, Ermengild, is glossed as "immense treasure," so the name holds both a giving-up and a thing of worth.
Its most documented bearer is a man. Saint Hermenegild was a Visigothic prince who left Arian belief for Nicene Christianity. His father, King Leovigild, had him executed on 13 April 586. That date is why Hermenegilda keeps her imieniny on 13 April.
The feminine form is rare in Poland now. A teacher reading it off a class register slows at the four syllables. It stays long, formal, unshortened, with no diminutive on the official name lists.
What the name says is fixed by its parts. Ermen and gild: great, and sacrifice.
When Hermenegilda celebrates name day
Hermenegilda appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 13 April.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
How many people are named Hermenegilda
1 in 425355 women in Poland is named Hermenegilda. 53 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #5142 among female names.
Hermenegilda as a middle name
Hermenegilda is a first name for 53 women in Poland and a middle name for another 44, a 55/45 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1032nd, between Hannelore (44) and Jenifer (44).
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#1030 Elfriede44
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#1031 Hannelore44
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#1032 Hermenegilda44
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#1033 Jenifer44
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#1034 Kristin44