Gervais
A masculine name derived from the Germanic name Gerwig, meaning "spear power".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Gervais. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gervais today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gervais births was 2000 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gervais. 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 Gervais with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gervais. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2000
6 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2000 SSA rank
#9,503
Tracked since 1926
Census
Gervais in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 200 people with the first name Gervais, which placed it at #38,397 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
#38,397
National first-name rank
People counted
200
200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
58.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gervais
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gervais is Black at 58.0%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Gervais 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 Gervais at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American58.0% · 116
- White34.0% · 68
- Two or more races6.0% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 1
Popularity
Gervais: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gervais from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gervais 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 Gervais 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 Gervais
Gervais is a French given name derived from the ancient Germanic name Gervasius, which itself originated from the word "ger" meaning "spear" and "vaz" meaning "brave." This name has its roots in the Frankish tribes of Western Europe during the early medieval period.
The earliest known record of the name Gervais dates back to the 7th century, when Saint Gervais, a Christian martyr from Milan, was mentioned in various religious texts and hagiographies. His feast day is celebrated on June 19th in the Roman Catholic Church.
In the 11th century, a notable figure named Gervais de Château-du-Loir was a French nobleman and military leader who played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England. He fought alongside William the Conqueror and was rewarded with lands in Nottinghamshire after the victory.
During the Middle Ages, the name Gervais was popular among the French nobility and clergy. One prominent individual was Gervais of Tilbury, a 13th-century English writer and canonist who served as a courtier to King Otto IV of Germany and King Henry III of England.
In the 16th century, Gervais Délavai was a French philosopher and theologian who contributed to the intellectual discourse of the Renaissance period. He was known for his works on ethics and moral philosophy.
Another notable figure was Gervais Planchart, a 17th-century French composer and organist who served as the court musician to King Louis XIV. He composed numerous sacred and secular works, contributing to the rich musical tradition of the French Baroque era.
As the name Gervais spread across Europe, it also found its way into other cultures and languages. For instance, in the 19th century, Gervais Ramazotti was an Italian opera singer and composer who gained fame for his performances in various opera houses across Europe.
While the name Gervais has maintained a presence throughout history, it has never been among the most popular names. However, its rich heritage and ties to notable figures in various fields make it a unique and culturally significant name.
People
Gervais + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gervais 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
Gervais: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gervais?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gervais 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Gervais a common name?
We classify Gervais as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gervais most popular?
The single biggest year for Gervais was 2000, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gervais is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gervais in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 200 people with the name Gervais, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,397 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 Gervais 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 Gervais?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gervais leans strongly male. 175 people counted with this name were male (85.8%), compared with 29 female bearers (14.2%). 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 Gervais?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gervais is Black at 58.0%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Gervais most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gervais in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.0% (116 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 Gervais in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gervais a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gervais 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 Gervais still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gervais 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 Gervais 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 Gervais?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Gervais at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.