Name Awesome

Imelda

#4,294 in 2025Girls' name

All, whole + battle, through Imelda

Imelda has been given to 7,476 babies in the U.S. since 1891. In 2025 it ranked #4,294 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1978, with 149 recorded.

Babies named Imelda, 2025

1 in 100,000

Imelda over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Imelda: meaning, origin, and history

All, whole + battle, through Imelda

Romance languages, Proto-Germanic and Spanish

What Imelda means

Imelda belongs to the name family reached through Imelda → Imelda. Its meaning is “all, whole + battle”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Romance (Italian Imelda, Spanish Imelda), from German Irmhild.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Imelda (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Imelda is used in English, Cebuano, Galician, Polish, Spanish and Tagalog. Its origins include Romance languages, Proto-Germanic and Spanish.

Imelda comes through Italian Imelda, Spanish Imelda and German Irmhild.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Imelda.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Polish, Imelda is pronounced /iˈmɛl.da/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,476 girls were recorded with the name Imelda between 1891 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 149 in 1978; its best national rank was #770 in 1911.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #3,647 in 2020 to #4,294 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,558 in 2015 to #4,294 in 2025.

How common is Imelda?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 100,000
33 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 48,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#4,294
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
69,634 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Imelda sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 69,634 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Imelda. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Imeldas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Imelda was born before 1971 — so the typical Imelda is around 54 today.

Median birth year
1971
About 54 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
17.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
12.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,396
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 17.2% of all recorded uses (1,283).

Is Imelda rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−627
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−647
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,264
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.74×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
22.1%
Peak was 1978 (149)
Years since peak
47
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#770
1911

Spellings of Imelda

Imelda is not the most common spelling — Amelia is, with 64.6% against Imelda's 1.7%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Imelda is used

Across 1910–2025, Imelda was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 5,556 girls, against 1 in 20,693 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

018 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 5,556
  2. 2California1 in 9,091
  3. 3Arizona1 in 25,000
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in 25,000
  5. 5Illinois1 in 33,333
  6. 6Iowa1 in 100,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Maine1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Imelda has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Imelda around the world

Where Imelda ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2025
    #2,788
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–1998
    #498
    in 1998
  • France
    1900–2025
    #6,569
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2021–2021
    #3,354
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1945–1989
    #692
    in 1989

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Imelda

People whose public names include Imelda, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Imelda in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Imelda. Linked forms have their own page here.

Irmhild

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Imelda by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#4,294
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 647
Best rank ever
#770
1911
Peak year
1978
149 that year
First recorded
1891
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,476
Count in 2025
33

Names similar to Imelda

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

GoldaMathildaZeldaEldaGriseldaNeldaVeldaTildaGildaHuldaMatildaWildaAwildaNildaEmeldaHildaAldaValdaMeldaMafaldaSheldaTheldaMildaEsmeralda

Names with a curve like Imelda

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Imelda, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

ElviaTressaAngelitaAlethiaJosephJennetteThomasCarmelitaSuzannaFranciscaAntionetteSamuel

Sibling names for Imelda

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Imelda

Top names of 1978, Imelda's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1911Girls' names starting with IFilipino Girl NamesGalician Girl Names