Find out how popular the last name Gerhart is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Gerhart.

Gerhart, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Gerhart surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gerhart in America

Gerhart is the 7689th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gerhart surname appeared 4,319 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Gerhart.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gerhart to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Gerhart

The surname Gerhart originated in Germany during the medieval period, likely in the 12th or 13th century. It is derived from the Germanic personal name Gerhard, which was composed of the elements "ger" meaning "spear" and "hard" meaning "hardy" or "brave." The name was initially spelled in various ways, such as Gerhard, Gerrard, and Gerharte, before settling on the modern form Gerhart.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gerhart can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Anhaltinus, a collection of medieval documents from the Anhalt region of Germany, dating back to the 13th century. The name is also mentioned in the Regestenwerk der Landgrafen von Thüringen, a compilation of records from the Landgraves of Thuringia, in the 14th century.

In the 15th century, a notable figure named Gerhart von Eppstein served as a canon of the Cathedral of Mainz and was involved in diplomatic missions for the Holy Roman Empire. Another historical figure, Gerhart von Künßberg, was a military commander who fought in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and is mentioned in various chronicles of the time.

During the 16th century, the name appeared in various town records and church registers across Germany. One such example is Gerhart Hauptmann, a German playwright and novelist born in 1862 in Obersalzbrunn, Silesia (now Szczawno-Zdrój, Poland). He was a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912 and is considered one of the most influential figures in German naturalism.

Another notable bearer of the surname Gerhart was Maria Gerhart, a German resistance fighter during World War II. Born in 1913 in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland), she was part of the Red Orchestra resistance group and was executed by the Nazis in 1944 for her activities.

In the 19th century, the name Gerhart was also found in other parts of Europe, such as the Netherlands and Switzerland. One prominent individual was Balthasar Gerhart Studer, a Swiss geologist and naturalist born in 1794 in Bürren, Switzerland. He made significant contributions to the study of geology and paleontology in the Swiss Alps.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gerhart

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Gerhart.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Gerhart was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Gerhart has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Gerhart was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Gerhart, please contact us.

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