Gerrard
Strong with a battle spear, from the Old German elements "gair" and "hard".
Name Census estimates that about 587 living Americans carry the first name Gerrard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gerrard today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gerrard births was 1990 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gerrard. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Gerrard with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
587
~ 1 in 583,909 Americans
Peak year
1990
22 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,289
Tracked since 1940
Census
Gerrard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 605 people with the first name Gerrard, which placed it at #17,970 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
#17,970
National first-name rank
People counted
605
605 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gerrard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gerrard is Black at 48.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Gerrard 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 Gerrard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.9% · 296
- White29.8% · 180
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 25
- Two or more races3.8% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
Popularity
Gerrard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gerrard from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 129 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gerrard 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 Gerrard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gerrards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gerrard
The name Gerrard is derived from the Germanic elements "ger" meaning "spear" and "hard" meaning "hardy" or "brave". It originated as a masculine given name in Medieval England and France during the 12th century.
The name first gained popularity in England after the Norman Conquest in 1066, when it was introduced by Norman settlers. It is believed to be a variant of the Old French name Gerard, which was brought over from France by Norman nobles and knights.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gerrard can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Gerardus" or "Girardus". This was a record of land ownership and taxation commissioned by William the Conqueror following his conquest of England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Gerrard was particularly popular among the Norman aristocracy and nobility in England. Several historical figures bore this name, including Gerrard de Camville (c. 1150-1215), a powerful Norman baron and Sheriff of Lincolnshire.
In the 13th century, the name was also associated with the Catholic Church. One notable bearer was Gerrard de Malynes (c. 1220-1305), a Flemish Franciscan friar and theologian who served as the tutor to the future King Edward II of England.
During the Renaissance period, the name Gerrard was further popularized by the English scholar and philosopher Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676), a prominent figure in the Diggers movement and advocate for agrarian socialism.
Another famous bearer of the name was Gerrard Mercator (1512-1594), the Flemish cartographer and geographer who is renowned for his pioneering work in cartography, including the creation of the Mercator projection world map.
In the 19th century, the name was borne by Gerrard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), an English poet and Jesuit priest who is considered one of the leading figures of the Victorian era and a pioneer of modern poetry.
People
Gerrard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gerrard 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
Gerrard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gerrard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 587 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gerrard 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 583,909 US residents.
Is Gerrard a common name?
We classify Gerrard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 628 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gerrard most popular?
The single biggest year for Gerrard was 1990, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gerrard is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gerrard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 605 people with the name Gerrard, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,970 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 Gerrard 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 Gerrard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gerrard appears almost entirely male. Of the 594 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Gerrard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gerrard is Black at 48.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.8%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Gerrard most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gerrard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.9% (296 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 Gerrard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gerrard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gerrard 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 Gerrard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gerrard 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 Gerrard 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 have the name Gerrard?
See how many people share the name Gerrard on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.