Gerritt
A masculine Dutch diminutive form of Gerard meaning "brave with the spear".
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Gerritt. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gerritt today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gerritt births was 1981 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gerritt. 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.
People living today
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
1981
11 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2011 SSA rank
#11,305
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Gerritt: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gerritt from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 59 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
Gerritt 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 Gerritt during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gerritt
The name Gerritt is a Dutch variant of the Germanic name Gerard, which is derived from the elements "gair" meaning "spear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy." The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and it was popular among the Dutch and Flemish populations.
In the 12th century, the name Gerard was commonly found in the Low Countries, particularly in the regions of present-day Netherlands and Belgium. It was often associated with nobility and was borne by several notable figures, including Gerard of Brogne, a Benedictine abbot who lived from around 890 to 959.
The variant spelling Gerritt emerged in the 16th century and was widely used in the Dutch-speaking areas. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gerritt can be found in the records of the Dutch East India Company, where a sailor named Gerritt de Veer was mentioned in the late 16th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gerritt. One of the most famous was Gerritt Rietveld (1888-1964), a Dutch furniture designer and architect who was a leading figure in the De Stijl art movement. Another notable Gerritt was Gerritt Smith (1797-1874), an American philanthropist and social reformer who was a prominent figure in the abolitionist movement.
Other significant bearers of the name Gerritt include Gerritt Cornelisz Decker (1609-1666), a Dutch Golden Age painter; Gerritt Cornelisz van Vollenhoven (1631-1692), a Dutch painter and etcher; and Gerritt Hendriksz Horntje (1635-1712), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his still life paintings.
The name Gerritt has been widely used in the Netherlands and among Dutch communities around the world. While its popularity has waned in recent decades, it remains a name with deep historical roots and cultural significance within Dutch and Flemish traditions.
People
Gerritt + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gerritt 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
Gerritt: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gerritt?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gerritt 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 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Gerritt a common name?
We classify Gerritt as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gerritt most popular?
The single biggest year for Gerritt was 1981, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gerritt is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gerritt a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gerritt 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.