Elmer

Where Elmer comes from

Medieval variant of the given name Aylmer, from Old English Æþelmǣr, from æþel (“noble”) + mǣre (“famous”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Elmer
  • Old English
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1876
    Elmer Drew Merrill born
    U.S. botanist
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #41 among boys — 373 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1893
    Peak, #32
    574 babies named Elmer — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1922
    Elmer Bernstein born
    American composer and conductor
  5. 1970
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #476.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Old English transferred back from the surname in the 19th century U.S.
Namesakes
  • Elmer Bernstein · American composer and conductor, 1922–2004
  • Elmer Drew Merrill · U.S. botanist, 1876–1956
  • Elmer Rice · American playwright, 1892–1967
  • Elmer Niklander · athletics competitor, 1890–1942
  • Elmer McCollum · American biochemist, 1879–1967

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.