Gerren vs Gertrude
American parents have registered 177,668 Gertrudes since 1880, against 590 Gerrens. Gertrude is still ahead, with 17 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gerren Gertrude
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Gertrude for 128 years and Gerren for 18 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.
- 1880–1976 Gertrude ahead
- 1980–1988 Gerren ahead
- 1994–2007 Gertrude ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2008–2010 Gerren ahead
- 2011–2025 Gertrude ahead
7 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Gerren | Gertrude | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 590 | 177,668 |
| Most in one year | 48 | 6,315 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 17 |
| Estimated living today | 560 | 14,000 |
| Median age today | 39 | 80 |
| Peak year | 1983 | 1917 |
| Best rank | 1,347th boys | 37th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 6,546th |
| First recorded | 1976 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 38 / 552 | 177,100 / 568 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Gertrudes alive today are over 80; half the Gerrens are over 39. That is 41 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gerren and Gertrude.