Humanverse

Gerrick vs Gertrude

American parents have registered 177,668 Gertrudes since 1880, against 566 Gerricks. Gertrude is still ahead, with 17 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gerrick against Gertrude, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gerrick 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 138 years and Gerrick for 8 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Gerrick Gertrude
Total US births 566177,668
Most in one year 336,315
Babies in 2025 under 517
Estimated living today 53014,000
Median age today 3880
Peak year 19891917
Best rank 2,106th boys37th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked6,546th
First recorded 19561880
Girls / boys 0 / 566177,100 / 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 Gerricks are over 38. That is 42 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gerrick and Gertrude.