# Kermit (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/kermit/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Manx |
| Meaning | “son of dermot” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɝmɪt/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 16,472 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 16,445 / 27 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

Variant of English and Manx Kermode, cognate with Irish Mac Diarmata and Scots Gaelic McDiarmid (“son of Dermot”). Popularized in the US by the naming of Kermit Roosevelt (after a Manx ancestor). The computing sense is named after the Sesame Street character, but later provided with a backronym ("KL10 Error-Free Reciprocal Microprocessor Interchange over TTY").

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1912 | 5 | 3,197 |
| 1914 | 5 | 3,914 |
| 1920 | 6 | 4,666 |
| 1921 | 6 | 4,779 |
| 1943 | 5 | 5,018 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 6 | 10,837 |
| 2006 | 13 | 6,296 |
| 2007 | 10 | 7,907 |
| 2008 | 7 | 10,511 |
| 2009 | 12 | 7,044 |
| 2010 | 8 | 9,269 |
| 2011 | 6 | 11,619 |
| 2012 | 7 | 10,293 |
| 2013 | 7 | 10,234 |
| 2014 | 13 | 6,483 |
| 2015 | 7 | 10,138 |
| 2017 | 5 | 13,323 |
| 2018 | 10 | 7,911 |
| 2022 | 6 | 11,639 |
| 2025 | 6 | 11,378 |

## People named Kermit

- Kermit Washington, American basketball player (born 1951)
- Kermit Gosnell, American serial killer (1941-2026)
- Kermit Maynard, actor, stunt performer (1897-1971)
- Kermit Beahan, bombardier who dropped atomic bomb on Nagasaki
- Kermit Roosevelt Jr., American intelligence officer (1916–2000)
- Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.