Entry № 4935 · Ojibwe origin

Nokomis Nokomis — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ no-KOH-mis /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Ojibwe
Meaning
"Grandmother (Hiawatha's grandmother in Algonquin tradition)"
Syllables
3
Rank · US 2025
№ 0
First recorded
Modern (Ojibwe)

A name that means "grandmother (hiawatha's grandmother in algonquin tradition)".

Nokomis is the Ojibwe-Algonquin word for "my grandmother," specifically maternal grandmother — used both as kinship term and personal name. In Algonquin and Ojibwe tradition, Nokomis is the moon-mother and grandmother figure who fell from the sky world and raised her grandson Manabozho (the trickster-creator). *Henry Wadsworth Longfellow drew on this tradition for The Song of Hiawatha (1855), where Nokomis raises Hiawatha after his mother Wenonah's death — "Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis." The name has been used by several towns and lakes in Minnesota* (Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis) and the Atlantic-coast resort community of Nokomis, Florida.

Featured throughout Longfellow's Hiawatha and Anishinaabe oral tradition.

Grandmother. Hiawatha's moon-grandmother; fell from the sky world to raise the trickster-creator.

The name in its native script.

Nookomis
Transliteration
Nookomis
Pronunciation
/ noʊˈkoʊ.mɪs /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Nokomis stands.

Current rank · 2025
№ 0 in the U.S.
All-time peak
№ 0 in 0
Babies named Nokomis · last year
87 in the U.S.
First entered SSA top-1000
0
Rank, 1995–2025 Lower = more popular
№25 №75 №150 №250 1995 2005 2015 2020 2025 PEAK · — NOW · —

Nokomiss before her.

Real people
Nokomis
Algonquin-Ojibwe moon-grandmother.
In fiction
Nokomis
Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha.
1855

Names connected to Nokomis.

The number behind Nokomis.

7

The Seeker

Nokomis reduces to seven — the number of Hiawatha's grandmother.

Why families chose this name.

"Moon-grandmother. Seven letters. Nokomis."
Catherine · Mother of one · Minneapolis