Kermit

Where Kermit comes from

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").
— Wiktionary's entry for Kermit
  • Manx
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1900
    First appearance
    #1,162 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1909
    Peak, #175
    139 babies named Kermit — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1951
    Kermit Washington born
    American basketball player
  4. 1977
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,064.
  5. 1990
    Kermit Erasmus born
    South African association football player
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Manx.
Namesakes
  • Kermit Erasmus · South African association football player, born 1990
  • Kermit Washington · American basketball player, born 1951
  • Kermit Gosnell · American serial killer, 1941–2026
  • Kermit Cintrón · Puerto Rican boxer, born 1979
  • Kermit Maynard · actor, stunt performer, 1897–1971

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.