How rare is the name Gertrude?

20,978 people in the United States have the first name Gertrude, about 1 in 14,398. It ranks #1,555 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

GERTRUDE

#1,555

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
20,978
About
1 in 14,398
This common or more
75.6%
Who bears it

Of the 20,978 people named Gertrude, 69.1% reported their origin as White, 24.8% as Black and 2.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Gertrude peaked in 1917, when 6,315 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1917
Births that year
6,315
In 2025*
17 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 177,668 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Gertrude by decade

Among all names given to American babies, it ranked #36 in every decade from the 1890s to the 1900s. The largest share of babies named Gertrude, 60.6%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#4411,132
1890s#3619,980
1900s#3623,683
1910s#5949,700
1920s#11342,589
1930s#26016,238
1940s#4597,948
1950s#8123,936
1960s#1,6071,250
1970s#3,506380
1980s#6,611188
1990s#12,806102
2000s#13,317135
2010s#9,461236
2020s#8,197171
Before 190119%
Greatest Generation 1901–2760.6%
Silent Generation 1928–4515.4%
Baby boom 1946–644.2%
Generation X 1965–800.5%
Millennials 1981–960.1%
Generation Z 1997–120.1%
2013 and later0.2%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Gertrude is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Gertrude has been most common in Maine (2.4×), Rhode Island (2.4×), and Massachusetts (2.2×), and least common in Arizona (0.11×).

119,858 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Gertrude

#1,553 Antoine · 21,025#1,554 Deandre · 21,024#1,556 Abdul · 20,968#1,557 Margo · 20,948

Spelled almost the same

4 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Gertrude, most common first.

#9,498 Gertrudis · 1,459#10,767 Gertrud · 1,221#21,512 Gertrudes · 471#26,440 Gertraud · 352

Compare