Anselmo
BoyGermanic · Spanish: /anˈselmo/; an-SEL-mo, with stress on the middle syllable.
Anselmo brings a rounded -o ending to the Anselm family, with Germanic roots and a place in Cervantes’s fiction.
Origin
Germanic
Pronunciation
Spanish: /anˈselmo/; an-SEL-mo, with stress on the middle syllable.
“Deity” + “helmet”; interpreted as “divine protection”.
Anselmo is a masculine name used in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, with Germanic roots meaning “deity” and “helmet”. The interpretation “divine protection” draws on the helmet’s protective role; it is a reading of the combined elements rather than a literal sentence. Anselm and the French Anselme belong to the same name family. The spelling Anselmo is recorded in Spanish in the sixteenth century. It also appears in Cervantes’s Don Quixote: Anselmo is one of the central figures in the embedded story El curioso impertinente, set in Florence. In Spanish, the three syllables run an-SEL-mo. The firm middle beat and gentler final -o give the name a measured, warm sound. Beside the more compact Anselm, Anselmo feels less clipped, while keeping a distinctly traditional air.
Etymology: A Spanish, Italian and Portuguese form of Anselm, from Germanic name elements ans- (“deity”) and helm (“helmet”).
Spelling table
Code
.- -. ... . .-.. -- ---
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Braille
⠠⠁⠝⠎⠑⠇⠍⠕
Name popularity
United States
Latest year: 2025
Boys
Rank10,788
Source
SSA records cover Social Security card applications, not every US birth. Names with fewer than 5 occurrences are omitted; gaps do not mean zero. Spellings are kept separate, except that SSA removes spaces and hyphens. Equal counts are ranked alphabetically. Ranks are calculated separately for boys and girls.
Origin
Germanic
Origin
Spanish
Variants & spellings
Appears in