Last updated: March 2026

Character Name

Kriemhild

Meaning — A Middle High German feminine name, possibly composed of "grîman" meaning "mask" or "helmet" and "hild" meaning "battle" — though the etymology is debated, with some scholars connecting the first element to a word meaning "violence" or "grief". Kriemhild is the central heroine-avenger of the Nibelungenlied, whose grief at the murder of her husband Siegfried transforms her into an unstoppable instrument of vengeance.·Germanic origin·Female·KREEM-hilt

Kriemhild Kriemhild is perhaps the most terrifying figure in Germanic heroic literature — a heroine whose devotion becomes a force of total destruction once her love is betrayed. Characters named Kriemhild carry this legacy of transformed grief: the name suits antagonists of genuinely tragic dimension, women whose actions are understandable and horrifying in equal measure. The name is powerful in epic fantasy and mythology-rooted historical fiction.

Best genres for Kriemhild

FantasyMythologyHistorical FictionAdventure

Famous characters named Kriemhild

Kriemhild

Das Nibelungenlied Anonymous (Middle High German)

The Burgundian princess who marries Siegfried and, after his murder by Hagen, dedicates her life to vengeance — eventually engineering the destruction of the entire Burgundian court.


Variations & nicknames

KriemhildKriemhildeGrimhildGudrun

Pairs well with

Kriemhild von BurgundyKriemhild FalkenbergKriemhild SturmKriemhild AdlerKriemhild RitterKriemhild Grimm

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Related names

Brunhilde

Germanic/Old Norse · “A Germanic feminine name composed of "brun" meaning "armour" or "brown" (as in the colour of iron) and "hild" meaning "battle" — thus "armoured for battle" or "battle-warrior". The name is borne by one of the most powerful figures in Germanic heroic legend: Brynhildr, the shield-maiden (valkyrie) of the Volsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied, whose love for Sigurd/Siegfried and betrayal by him precipitates catastrophe.

Hildegard

Old High German · “A Germanic feminine name composed of "hild" meaning "battle" and "gard" meaning "enclosure", "stronghold", or "protection" — thus "battle-stronghold" or "protected in battle". Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) was a Benedictine abbess, visionary mystic, composer, natural philosopher, and medical writer — one of the most remarkable intellectual figures of the Middle Ages and now a Doctor of the Catholic Church.

Sigrun

Old Norse · “An Old Norse feminine name composed of "sigr" meaning "victory" and "rún" meaning "secret" or "rune" — thus "victory-rune" or "secret of victory". In Norse mythology Sigrún is a valkyrie, the beloved of the hero Helgi Hundingsbane, whose tragic love story is told in the Poetic Edda. The association with runes gives the name a mystical dimension beyond simple martial victory.

Gudrun

Old Norse · “An Old Norse feminine name composed of "guðr" meaning "god" or "battle" and "rún" meaning "secret" or "rune" — thus "divine secret", "battle-rune", or "god's mystery". Gudrun is one of the great names of Norse heroic legend — she is the sister of Gunnar and wife of Sigurd in the Volsunga Saga, and her fate forms the emotional core of the entire cycle as she witnesses the murder of her husband and the destruction of her family.


More Germanic names

Hannelore

A German compound feminine name combining Hanne (a diminutive of Johanna, the feminine form of Johann/John, from Hebrew "Yochanan" meaning "God is gracious") and Lore (a diminutive of Eleonore or Loreley). The compound became popular in the German-speaking world in the early-to-mid 20th century, reflecting the Germanic fondness for melodic double-name formations.

Heidi

A Swiss-German diminutive of Adelheid, itself the German form of Adelaide, composed of the Germanic elements "adal" (noble) and "heid" (kind, sort, type). The name became internationally famous through Johanna Spyri's 1881 Swiss novel "Heidi", whose protagonist is a bright, warm-hearted Alpine girl who becomes one of the most beloved child characters in world literature.

Eloisa

The Italian and Spanish form of Eloise, from the Old French Héloïse, which derives from the Germanic Helewidis, composed of heil ("healthy, whole") and wit ("wide"). The name is forever associated with Héloïse d'Argenteuil (1101–1164), the medieval French scholar and nun whose passionate correspondence with philosopher Peter Abelard became one of the great epistolary love stories of Western history.

Helmut

A Germanic masculine name composed of "helm" meaning "helmet" (protection, defence) and "mut" meaning "spirit", "courage", or "mind" — thus "courageous in battle" or "protected spirit". The name was common in German-speaking lands from the medieval period and became one of the defining masculine names of 20th-century Germany.

Ramon

The Spanish and Catalan form of Raymond, from the Old Germanic Raginmund, composed of ragin ("counsel, advice") and mund ("protector"), meaning "wise protector" or "counsellor guardian." The name entered the Iberian Peninsula via the Visigoths and Frankish influence and has been a traditional masculine name in Spain, Catalonia, and Latin America for centuries.

Edeltraud

A Germanic feminine name composed of "adal" or "edel" meaning "noble" and "þruð" or "traut" meaning "strength" or "beloved" — thus "noble strength" or "noble and dear". The name was popular in the German-speaking world in the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in Catholic Austria, Bavaria, and the Rhineland, where it was associated with aristocratic feminine virtue.


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