Gerhard

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Gerhard is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name20K records spelled Gerhard4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Mexico, Spain

  Languages: Portuguese, Spanish

  Also written Gérhard

• French given name5.8K records spelled Gerhard3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, South Africa, United States

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Gérhard

• a separate given name5.0K records spelled Gerhard2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden

  Also written Gérhard

• Croatian given name1.9K records spelled Gerhard10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Latvia, Switzerland, United States

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Герхард, Gerkhard

71 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Gerhard is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Germanic ger + hard, 'spear' + 'strong'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In German, patronymisch zu Gerhard, mit ahd. gēr 'Speer' + ahd. harti/herti 'hart, stark'; Familiennamen aus der Vollform. Bearer count: 161

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In German, patronymischer Familienname zu Rufname Gerhard (ger- + -hard, etwa 'speer-kräftig, stark')

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In German, Patronymischer Familienname zu Rufname Gerhard; Varianten teils mit eingeschobenem n bzw. Angleichung an -hart. Dialekt-/Formenreihe auch zu Gernhard, Gernert, Gernet, Gerner, Gernart, Görnhardt.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In German, Familienname zu den Rufnamen Gerhard, Germann/Germanus und Gerwin; patronymische Bildung. Keine Bearerzahl auf der Seite genannt.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 118 years between 1882–2020. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Gerhard Mercatorb. 1512BEFlemish geographer, cosmographer and cartographer (1512–1594)
• Gerhard Armauer Hansenb. 1841NONorwegian physician
• Gerhard Domagkb. 1895DEGerman bacteriologist (1895-1964)
• Gerhard Herzbergb. 1904DEGerman-Canadian physicist and physical chemist (1904-1999)
• Gerhard Richterb. 1932DEGerman visual artist (b. 1932)
• Gerhard Ertlb. 1936DEGerman physicist
• Gerhard Schröderb. 1944DEChancellor of West Germany (1998–2005)
• Gerd Müllerb. 1945DEnot in their usual nameGerman footballer (1945–2021)
• Dan Brownb. 1964USnot in their usual nameAmerican novelist (born 1964)
• Jens Lehmannb. 1969DEnot in their usual nameGerman association football player (born 1969)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 684 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Gerhard?

We estimate roughly 11 thousand people bear Gerhard (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Gerhard have the most bearers?

Gerhard is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled gerhard.

How common is Gerhard compared with other names?

In Germany, Gerhard is the 30th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Gerhard a male or female name?

Gerhard is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Gerhard mean?

Recorded meaning: from Germanic *ger- 'spear' + *hard- 'strong, hard'