Gertha
Gertha was last recorded in 1971, when 5 babies were given it; 1,792 Americans have been recorded with it between 1883 and 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gertha by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Gertha?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,743, in 1971; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
58 babies in 1921, the peak
Gertha peaked in 1921, when 58 girls were given it, #975 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 5 | #8,743 | 3.0 |
| 1967 | 7 | #5,658 | 4.2 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,162 | 4.2 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,504 | 3.6 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,109 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 8 | #5,027 | 4.0 |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,912 | 4.0 |
| 1959 | 10 | #4,121 | 4.9 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,033 | 5.0 |
| 1957 | 15 | #3,077 | 7.3 |
Every recorded year (81)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 11 | #3,771 | 5.5 |
| 1955 | 20 | #2,496 | 10.2 |
| 1954 | 18 | #2,625 | 9.3 |
| 1953 | 18 | #2,546 | 9.6 |
| 1952 | 20 | #2,353 | 10.8 |
| 1951 | 18 | #2,415 | 10.0 |
| 1950 | 19 | #2,282 | 11.1 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,166 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 19 | #2,278 | 11.2 |
| 1947 | 20 | #2,225 | 11.3 |
| 1946 | 22 | #1,986 | 14.0 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,712 | 18.4 |
| 1944 | 28 | #1,554 | 21.1 |
| 1943 | 24 | #1,760 | 17.2 |
| 1942 | 24 | #1,723 | 17.8 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,345 | 27.3 |
| 1940 | 33 | #1,301 | 28.9 |
| 1939 | 29 | #1,384 | 26.4 |
| 1938 | 25 | #1,519 | 22.7 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,697 | 19.7 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,609 | 21.1 |
| 1935 | 33 | #1,249 | 31.5 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,455 | 24.9 |
| 1933 | 27 | #1,419 | 26.8 |
| 1932 | 33 | #1,278 | 30.9 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,352 | 28.2 |
| 1930 | 43 | #1,133 | 38.2 |
| 1929 | 32 | #1,350 | 28.7 |
| 1928 | 26 | #1,611 | 22.5 |
| 1927 | 42 | #1,203 | 35.2 |
| 1926 | 47 | #1,105 | 39.6 |
| 1925 | 41 | #1,216 | 33.7 |
| 1924 | 39 | #1,289 | 31.2 |
| 1923 | 40 | #1,236 | 33.2 |
| 1922 | 50 | #1,081 | 41.6 |
| 1921 | 58 | #975 | 47.0 |
| 1920 | 51 | #1,044 | 42.6 |
| 1919 | 41 | #1,164 | 36.3 |
| 1918 | 49 | #1,036 | 42.3 |
| 1917 | 53 | #956 | 49.0 |
| 1916 | 33 | #1,257 | 31.6 |
| 1915 | 53 | #909 | 53.9 |
| 1914 | 31 | #1,087 | 40.7 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,428 | 27.2 |
| 1912 | 35 | #851 | 62.7 |
| 1911 | 25 | #861 | 59.8 |
| 1910 | 22 | #926 | 55.5 |
| 1909 | 19 | #946 | 54.7 |
| 1908 | 8 | #1,597 | 23.9 |
| 1907 | 15 | #1,009 | 47.1 |
| 1906 | 20 | #826 | 67.7 |
| 1905 | 19 | #857 | 65.2 |
| 1904 | 18 | #861 | 65.4 |
| 1903 | 14 | #946 | 53.4 |
| 1902 | 15 | #916 | 56.8 |
| 1901 | 16 | #836 | 66.8 |
| 1900 | 11 | #1,193 | 36.7 |
| 1899 | 12 | #946 | 51.5 |
| 1898 | 7 | #1,421 | 27.1 |
| 1897 | 12 | #947 | 51.2 |
| 1896 | 10 | #1,077 | 42.0 |
| 1895 | 15 | #830 | 64.2 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,569 | 22.4 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,513 | 23.5 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,213 | 33.0 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,401 | 27.0 |
| 1889 | 7 | #1,065 | 39.2 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,360 | 28.0 |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,205 | 34.3 |
| 1885 | 5 | #1,106 | 37.6 |
| 1883 | 7 | #779 | 62.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gertha a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gertha has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 81 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gertha: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gertha, and how old are they?
An estimated 369 Americans named Gertha and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (21% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 71 and 85. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 908 people named Gertha (897 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 510 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 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).
Where are babies named Gertha born?
The states with the most babies named Gertha are Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina, with 78% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama and Arkansas are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 288 | not ranked | 6.6× |
| Arkansas | 82 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| North Carolina | 79 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Texas | 38 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Mississippi | 36 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Louisiana | 22 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 17 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Tennessee | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Gertha is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gertha is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1910 it was given 6.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Gertha with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Gertha
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 Gertha and names like it
- Compare Gertha and LeolaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sGertha peaked in 1921.
- Alabama’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gertha since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Gertha.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gertha alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.