Gero
A masculine name of Old Norse origin meaning "spear warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Gero. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gero today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gero births was 1970 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gero. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gero. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1970
5 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1970 SSA rank
#4,984
Tracked since 1970
Census
Gero in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 107 people with the first name Gero, which placed it at #52,420 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#52,420
National first-name rank
People counted
107
107 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gero
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gero is White at 53.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gero described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gero at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.3% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino29.0% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 9
- Black or African American6.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 2
- Two or more races0.9% · 1
Popularity
Gero: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Gero 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 Gero during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Gero
The name Gero has its origins in the Germanic languages, with roots that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old High German word "gēr," meaning "spear" or "javelin." This connection to weaponry suggests that the name may have originally been associated with warriors or soldiers in ancient Germanic tribes.
Gero was a fairly common name among the Franks and other Germanic peoples during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Annales Regni Francorum, a historical chronicle from the late 8th and early 9th centuries. This text mentions a Frankish nobleman named Gero who served as a count under Charlemagne.
In the 10th century, a Saxon noble named Gero the Great lived from around 900 to 965 AD. He was a prominent military leader and Margrave of the Saxon Eastern March, playing a significant role in defending the eastern borders of the Holy Roman Empire against invasions by Slavic tribes.
Another notable figure with the name Gero was Gero, Archbishop of Cologne, who lived from around 965 to 976 AD. He was an influential cleric and advisor to the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II.
Moving forward in time, Gero of Velletri was an Italian cardinal and papal legate who lived from around 1150 to 1219. He played a crucial role in mediating conflicts between the Papacy and various European rulers during the turbulent period of the Investiture Controversy.
In the 15th century, Gero Seidentopf was a German painter and woodcarver active in Nuremberg between around 1460 and 1490. He is known for his contributions to the altarpiece in the Church of St. Sebald, a renowned work of late Gothic art.
While the name Gero has its roots in the Germanic languages, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures over the centuries, often with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. However, its historical origins and connections to ancient warriors and nobility remain a significant part of its legacy and meaning.
People
Gero + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gero 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
Gero: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gero?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gero 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Gero a common name?
We classify Gero as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gero most popular?
The single biggest year for Gero was 1970, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gero is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gero in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 107 people with the name Gero, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #52,420 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gero in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gero?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gero leans strongly male. 104 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 11 female bearers (9.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gero?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gero is White at 53.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (29.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gero most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gero in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.3% (57 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gero in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gero a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gero 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.
Is Gero still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gero in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gero can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are named Gero?
Find out how many people share the name Gero on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.