Given name & surname · also Germanic
Gertrude
“one who is strong with a spear”
Gertrude is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “one who is strong with a spear.”
Original GermanGertrud
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “one who is strong with a spear.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Germanic.
The story
Gertrude was in use during the 19th century.
Gertrude through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 177,668
- 568 boys · 177,100 girls
- Most popular year
- 1917
- 6,315 babies
- 2025
- 17
- #6,632 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −9%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 17 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 6,632 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 9.2% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 6,300 in 1917. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 20,978 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gertrude’s family of names
In English usage, Gertrude has a diminutive in Trudy. Gertrude shares a linguistic root with Gertrudis. Gertrude has a related form in Gertie.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Gertrude has relatives in 27 languages. Lines run from its Proto-Germanic roots to each of them.
34 related names in 27 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 32
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Trudediminutive · German
- Gertrudvariant · German, Swedish
- Gertraudevariant · German
- Gertraudvariant · German
- Trudydiminutive · English
- Trudiepet form · English
- Gertiediminutive · English
- Gertrudesvariant · Portuguese
Show 24 moreShow fewer
- Gertrudisvariant · Basque, German
- Gertavariant
- Trudipet form
- Gerdapet form
- Trudelpet form · French
- Gerteahvariant
- Gerteavariant
- Gertrutvariant
- Gertmdavariant
- Gertyvariant
- Gertrudavariant · Polish, Czech
- Gertinavariant
- Gertevariant
- Gertvariant · English
- Geltrudisvariant
- Geltrudavariant
- Geertruidevariant
- Gesapet form
- Geertjepet form
- Geertkepet form
- Gerdipet form
- Ge(e)rtruidavariant
- Gertrautvariant
- Gertradvariant
Across languages 28
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- GartrudeGerman
- GaritrudeGerman
- Getrudeequivalent
- Gertruequivalent
- Kärtequivalent
- Djetroucognate · Walloon
- Geltrudealso known as · Italian
- Kerttucognate · Finnish
Show 20 moreShow fewer
- Gertiequivalent
- Gescheequivalent
- GertrúdaSlovene
- ГертрудаRussian
- GjertrudNorwegian
- GeertruidaDutch
- GeirþrúðurIcelandic
- GertrúdHungarian
- CirtrudaSicilian
- Гертру́даRussian
- GertrūdaLithuanian
- ĢertrūdeLatvian
- QituraGreenlandic
- გერტრუდიGeorgian
- გერტრუდაGeorgian
- XertrudeGalician
- KertuEstonian
- GertrudoEsperanto
- GertruidaDutch
- Geertacognate
People named Gertrude
- Gertrude B. ElionAmerican biochemist and pharmacologist (1918–1999)
- Gertrude SteinAmerican author (1874–1946)
- Gertrude BellBritish traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
- G. E. M. AnscombeBritish analytic philosopher1919–2001
- Gertrude the GreatRoman Catholic Saint1256–1301
- Gertrude EderleAmerican swimmer (1905–2003)
- Ma RaineyAmerican blues singer (1886–1939)
- Gertrude JekyllGarden designer, artist, editor (1843-1932)
- Gertrude of NivellesBenedictine abbess and saint (626-659)
Characters named Gertrude: Gertrude (Shakespeare's Hamlet), Gertrude Yorkes (ficitonal character in Marvel Comics).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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