Irma (name)

Irma is a female given name. It is also used in combination with other names in the abbreviated form "Irm-," for example, Irmine, Irmela, Irmgard, Irmgardis, and Irmentraud. The name comes from the Old High German "irmin", meaning "world". There is also an unrelated Georgian given name "Irma" which comes from the Georgian word "iremi"—"deer". The name days for Irma are February 19 (Germany), March 31 (Estonia, Finland), April 7 (Sweden), May 3 (Hungary), September 10 (Czech Republic), September 18 (Poland), October 13 (Latvia), October 25 (USA), and November 14 (Slovakia). The name Irma is popular in the Balkans, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Its popularity in Bosnia and Herzegovina grew among Bosniaks after the tragic death of five-year-old Irma Hadžimuratović, a victim of VRS shelling that hit a Sarajevo neighborhood in 1993 during the siege of Sarajevo. Following Irma's death, Operation Irma was the name applied to a series of airlifts of injured civilians from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The male version of Irma is Irmin (for example, Irmin Schmidt) or Irman (for example, Irman Gusman). These male versions are commonly found in Indonesia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.