Gmelinite was named as a single species in 1825 after Christian Gottlob Gmelin (1792–1860) professor of chemistry and mineralogist from Tübingen, Germany, and in 1997 it was raised to the status of a series.

[7] The naturally occurring mineral forms striking crystals, shallow, six sided double pyramids, which can be colorless, white, pale yellow, greenish, orange, pink, and red.

The aluminosilicate framework is composed of tetrahedra linked to form parallel double six-membered rings stacked in two different positions (A and B) in the repeating arrangement AABBAABB.

Generally occurs in Si-poor volcanic rocks, marine basalts and breccias, associated with other sodium zeolites such as analcime, Na(Si2Al)O6·H2O, natrolite, Na2(Si3Al2)O10·2H2O, and chabazite-Na, Na2Ca(Si8Al4)O24·12H2O.

[7] It is widespread as a hydrothermal alteration product of ussingite, Na2AlSi3O8(OH), associated with gobbinsite, Na5(Si11Al5)O32·11H2O, gonnardite, (Na,Ca)2(Si,Al)5O10·3H2O, and chabazite-K.[7] Gmelinite-Na occurs extremely rarely at the Francon Quarry, Montreal, Canada, in sills of the igneous volcanic rock phonolite which are rich in dawsonite, NaAl(CO3)(OH)2.