Gertha
Feminine form of the German name Gerhard, meaning "brave spear bearer".
Name Census estimates that about 315 living Americans carry the first name Gertha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gertha today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gertha births was 1921 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gertha. 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 Gertha is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gerthas were born before 1958.
People living today
315
~ 1 in 1,088,109 Americans
Peak year
1921
58 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1971 SSA rank
#8,745
Tracked since 1883
Census
Gertha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 908 people with the first name Gertha, which placed it at #13,344 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
#13,344
National first-name rank
People counted
908
908 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gertha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gertha is Black at 79.1%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Gertha 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 Gertha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.1% · 718
- White13.1% · 119
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 37
- Two or more races2.9% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 3
Popularity
Gertha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gertha from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 426 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
Gertha 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 Gertha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gerthas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Gertha, while Tennessee, Oklahoma, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 64 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gertha
The name Gertha is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German word "gard" or "garth," meaning "enclosure" or "yard." It is a feminine form of the male name Gerhart or Gerhard, which literally translates to "strong with the spear."
Gertha first appeared in written records during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions where Germanic languages were spoken, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and parts of what is now Belgium and France. It was a popular name among the nobility and upper classes during this period.
One of the earliest known references to the name Gertha can be found in the Nibelungenlied, a legendary German epic poem composed around the 13th century. In this work, Gertha is mentioned as the name of a minor character.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gertha. One of the earliest recorded was Gertha of Saxony (1115-1143), a German noblewoman and the wife of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria.
Another significant figure was Gertha Tanning (1892-1962), an Estonian-American writer and translator who played a crucial role in introducing Estonian literature to English-speaking audiences. She was born in Tallinn and later immigrated to the United States.
In the realm of science, Gertha Walküre (1907-1977) was a German physicist and mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. She worked alongside prominent physicists such as Werner Heisenberg and Max Born.
The name Gertha also appears in the arts. Gertha Wendling (1885-1960) was a renowned German painter and printmaker known for her vibrant landscapes and still life works. Her art was heavily influenced by the Expressionist movement.
Lastly, Gertha Muller (1876-1957) was a pioneering German educator and women's rights advocate. She founded several schools and played a pivotal role in promoting educational opportunities for women in Germany during the early 20th century.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Gertha throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human endeavor.
People
Gertha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gertha 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
Gertha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gertha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 315 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gertha 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 1,088,109 US residents.
Is Gertha a common name?
We classify Gertha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,792 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gertha most popular?
The single biggest year for Gertha was 1921, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gertha is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gertha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 908 people with the name Gertha, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,344 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 Gertha 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 Gertha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gertha leans strongly female. 897 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 11 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Gertha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gertha is Black at 79.1%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Gertha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gertha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.1% (718 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 Gertha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gertha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gertha in the SSA data are female. 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 Gertha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gertha 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 Gertha 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 Gertha as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Gertha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.