Gerda
Gerda was last recorded in 1972, when 7 babies were given it; 1,099 Americans have been recorded with it between 1887 and 1972 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gerda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gerda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gerda is “a female given name from the Germanic languages occasionally used in English, mostly around 1900.” Its etymology gives the sense “protection” (garðr).
Latinate variant of Scandinavian Gerd, from Old Norse Gerðr, garðr (“protection”). The name occurs in nineteenth century Swedish poetry and in Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen (1844).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gerda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,780, in 1972; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
49 babies in 1915, the peak
Gerda peaked in 1915, when 49 girls were given it, #949 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 7 | #6,780 | 4.6 |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,380 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,131 | 3.0 |
| 1966 | 5 | #6,907 | 3.0 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,113 | 2.6 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,013 | 4.2 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,481 | 3.6 |
| 1961 | 11 | #4,096 | 5.4 |
| 1960 | 5 | #6,690 | 2.5 |
| 1959 | 9 | #4,417 | 4.4 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | 5 | #6,411 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,640 | 2.9 |
| 1956 | 7 | #5,004 | 3.5 |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,514 | 4.1 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,402 | 4.1 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,338 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,125 | 3.2 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,532 | 3.9 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,121 | 7.0 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,008 | 4.7 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,149 | 4.5 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,798 | 8.4 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,830 | 5.3 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,918 | 7.9 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,274 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,913 | 8.3 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,471 | 10.5 |
| 1939 | 15 | #2,155 | 13.7 |
| 1938 | 27 | #1,458 | 24.5 |
| 1937 | 16 | #2,037 | 15.0 |
| 1936 | 15 | #2,082 | 14.4 |
| 1935 | 32 | #1,284 | 30.5 |
| 1934 | 19 | #1,795 | 18.2 |
| 1933 | 15 | #2,092 | 14.9 |
| 1932 | 22 | #1,646 | 20.6 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,350 | 12.2 |
| 1930 | 31 | #1,384 | 27.5 |
| 1929 | 17 | #2,042 | 15.2 |
| 1928 | 26 | #1,610 | 22.5 |
| 1927 | 20 | #1,970 | 16.8 |
| 1926 | 27 | #1,596 | 22.8 |
| 1925 | 24 | #1,763 | 19.7 |
| 1924 | 22 | #1,892 | 17.6 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,639 | 10.8 |
| 1922 | 18 | #2,144 | 15.0 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,946 | 17.0 |
| 1920 | 30 | #1,485 | 25.0 |
| 1919 | 27 | #1,540 | 23.9 |
| 1918 | 26 | #1,585 | 22.5 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,737 | 19.4 |
| 1916 | 38 | #1,152 | 36.4 |
| 1915 | 49 | #949 | 49.8 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,462 | 26.3 |
| 1913 | 22 | #1,192 | 35.2 |
| 1912 | 25 | #1,043 | 44.8 |
| 1911 | 14 | #1,265 | 33.5 |
| 1910 | 18 | #1,043 | 45.4 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,519 | 25.9 |
| 1908 | 10 | #1,384 | 29.9 |
| 1907 | 11 | #1,242 | 34.5 |
| 1906 | 15 | #978 | 50.8 |
| 1905 | 9 | #1,349 | 30.9 |
| 1904 | 10 | #1,198 | 36.3 |
| 1903 | 13 | #996 | 49.6 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,390 | 29.2 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,631 | 23.4 |
| 1899 | 14 | #891 | 60.1 |
| 1898 | 14 | #937 | 54.1 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,313 | 29.9 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,249 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 12 | #957 | 51.4 |
| 1894 | 8 | #1,179 | 35.9 |
| 1893 | 8 | #1,124 | 37.6 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,344 | 28.3 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,400 | 27.0 |
| 1890 | 10 | #893 | 52.5 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,064 | 39.2 |
| 1888 | 7 | #1,074 | 39.2 |
| 1887 | 6 | #1,078 | 41.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gerda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gerda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 79 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gerda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gerda, and how old are they?
An estimated 201 Americans named Gerda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (18% of everyone recorded); the median is 75 years old and half are between 66 and 86. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 2,568 people named Gerda (2,561 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 281 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,257 babies since 1880, Gerda is the most given (87% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Gerda
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Gerda and names like it
- Compare Gerda and GerardaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sGerda peaked in 1915.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gerda since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Gerda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Gerda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gerda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.