The name is a corruption of alabandicus, which is the name applied by Pliny the Elder to a stone found or worked at Alabanda, a town in Caria in Asia Minor.

[6] Almandine is one end-member of a mineral solid solution series, with the other end member being the garnet pyrope.

Almandine, Fe2+3Al2Si3O12, is the ferrous iron end member of the class of garnet minerals representing an important group of rock-forming silicates, which are the main constituents of the Earth's crust, upper mantle and transition zone.

[8] Almandine occurs rather abundantly in the gem gravels of Sri Lanka, whence it has sometimes been called "Ceylon ruby".

An almandine in which the ferrous oxide is replaced partly by magnesia is found at Luisenfeld in German East Africa.