Gerhardt
A German name derived from the Old German words "ger" meaning spear and "hart" meaning brave.
Name Census estimates that about 153 living Americans carry the first name Gerhardt. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gerhardt today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gerhardt births was 1916 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gerhardt. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Gerhardt is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gerhardts were born before 1959.
People living today
153
~ 1 in 2,240,224 Americans
Peak year
1916
45 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1999 SSA rank
#10,481
Tracked since 1903
Popularity
Gerhardt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gerhardt from the 1900s through to the 1990s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 280 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gerhardt by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gerhardt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gerhardts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois recorded the most babies named Gerhardt, while New York, Michigan, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gerhardt
The given name Gerhardt is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "ger" meaning "spear" and "hard" meaning "hardy" or "brave". It emerged as a common name in the Medieval period, particularly in regions of present-day Germany and the Netherlands.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Gerhardt was Gerhardt von Riga, a 13th-century priest and chronicler who documented the Northern Crusades in Livonia (present-day Latvia and Estonia). His work, the Livonian Chronicle, provides valuable insights into the region's history during that era.
In the 16th century, Gerhardt Mercator, a Flemish cartographer and geographer, gained fame for his innovative world map projection, now known as the Mercator projection. He was born in 1512 and died in 1594, leaving a lasting legacy in the field of cartography.
The 17th century saw the rise of Gerhardt Tersteegen, a German mystic and poet born in 1697. His religious works, such as the collection of hymns "Geistliches Blumengärtlein", became widely popular and influenced Protestant spirituality.
Another notable figure was Gerhardt von Kügelgen, a German painter and writer born in 1772. He is renowned for his portraits of notable figures from the Romantic era, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller.
In the 19th century, Gerhardt Hauptmann, a German dramatist and novelist, achieved literary acclaim. Born in 1862, he is best known for his naturalistic plays, such as "The Weavers" and "The Sunken Bell". Hauptmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912.
While these are just a few examples, the name Gerhardt has been present throughout various periods of history, bearing witness to the cultural and linguistic roots of its Germanic heritage.
People
Gerhardt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gerhardt as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gerhardt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gerhardt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 153 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gerhardt going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,240,224 US residents.
Is Gerhardt a common name?
We classify Gerhardt as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 858 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gerhardt most popular?
The single biggest year for Gerhardt was 1916, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gerhardt is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gerhardt a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gerhardt in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.