The name Qormi is most likely derived from the surname Curmi, which is documented in Sicily as of 1095. Several other places in Malta derive their names from surnames, including Balzan, Attard and Ghaxaq. When Qormi is mentioned for the first time in the year 1419, only two of twenty people with the surname Curmi lived in the village.

Alternative folk etymologies have been put forward since the 17th century. Domenico Magri connects the toponym to the word curmi as drink. G.F. Abela refers to carm or carme as the Arabic term for vine as origin of the village name. Agius de Soldanis proposed the Greek crumi, collection of water. Finally C. Scicluna likens it to the Greek hormos, harbour, as the Great Harbour used to go inland as far as Qormi. In both latter cases, there is no documentary evidence for any Greek origin of the toponym.