Gunter
A Germanic masculine name meaning "battle warrior" or "fighter's warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 373 living Americans carry the first name Gunter. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gunter today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gunter births was 2015 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gunter. 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
373
~ 1 in 918,912 Americans
Peak year
2015
17 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,903
Tracked since 1929
Popularity
Gunter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gunter from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 98 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gunter remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gunter 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 Gunter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gunters live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gunter
Gunter is a masculine given name of German origin, derived from the Old German words "gund" meaning "battle" and "her" meaning "army" or "warrior." It first emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 5th to 9th centuries AD, in various regions of modern-day Germany and surrounding areas.
The name Gunter is believed to have its roots in the name of the Germanic tribe known as the Gunthers or Gundherians, who were mentioned in ancient texts such as the Nibelungenlied, a medieval German epic poem written around the 13th century. The name was also found in other literary works of the time, such as the Icelandic sagas.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Gunter was Gunther, the Burgundian king who ruled in the 5th century AD. He is a central character in the Nibelungenlied, where he is portrayed as a powerful and ambitious ruler.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Gunter. One of the most famous was Gunther of Pairis (c. 965 - c. 1060), a German ecclesiastic who served as the Archbishop of Salzburg from 1024 until his death. He is remembered for his efforts to reform the Church and his patronage of the arts and education.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Gunther von Schwarzburg (c. 1170 - 1223), a German nobleman and crusader who participated in the Fifth Crusade and was later appointed as the first Prince-Bishop of Bamberg.
In the realm of science, Gunter Grass (1927 - 2015) was a renowned German novelist, playwright, and poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999 for his influential works, including "The Tin Drum" and "Cat and Mouse."
Gunter Sachs (1932 - 2011) was a German businessman, photographer, and former husband of the French actress Brigitte Bardot, known for his lavish lifestyle and fascination with art and culture.
Gunter Wallraff (born 1942) is a German journalist and author who gained prominence for his undercover investigations and exposés of social injustice, particularly in his book "Ganz unten" (Lowest of the Low).
People
Gunter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gunter 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
Gunter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gunter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 373 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gunter 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 918,912 US residents.
Is Gunter a common name?
We classify Gunter as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gunter most popular?
The single biggest year for Gunter was 2015, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gunter is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gunter a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gunter 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.