Gertrud

Girls' name

Spear

Gertrud has been given to 34 babies in the U.S. since 1894. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Gertrud, 1923

1 in 460,000

Gertrud over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gertrud: meaning, origin, and history

Spear

Old High German

What Gertrud means

Gertrud means “spear”, associated with gēr.

Origin, language, and formation

Gertrud is used in Danish, German and Swedish. Its origins include Old High German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Gertrude.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 34 girls were recorded with the name Gertrud between 1894 and 1923. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1916; its best national rank was #1,404 in 1894.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Gertrud?

Gertrud had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1923, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1923: 1 in 460,000; 5 of 2,302,410 births
Among girls only: 1 in 241,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1923: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 319,183 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Gertrud sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1923 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 319,183 children born in 1923 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gertrud. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gertruds were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gertrud was born before 1915 — so the typical Gertrud is around 110 today.

Median birth year: 1915; About 110 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 52.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 82.4%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 52.9% of all recorded uses (18).

Is Gertrud rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1916 (7)
Years since peak: 109; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 22.6% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,404; 1894

Spellings of Gertrud

Gertrud is not the most common spelling — Gertrude is, with 100.0% against Gertrud's 0.02%.

Gertrude100.0%177,100
Gertrud0.02%34

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Gertrud around the world

Where Gertrud ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

France
1911–1911
#787
in 1911
South Australia
1951–1967
#650
in 1967

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Gertrud by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,404; 1894
Peak year: 1916; 7 that year
First recorded: 1894
Last recorded: 1923
All-time count: 34
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Gertrud

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Geretha Germain Geriyah Germanii Gerlean Geralda Gerrilyn Gerren Geraldy Gerika Gerane Gerrica Gerthie Gertis Germani Gerelene Gervaise Gerette Gerrika Geraldi Geriah Gerriann Gerise Germany

Sibling names for Gertrud

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Era Leatha Leone Artie Alpha Hettie Cecil Ona

For a brother

Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman Regis Sydney Meyer

Explore around Gertrud

Top names of 1916, Gertrud's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1894 Girls' names starting with G