Given name & surname
Gunther
“a warrior”
Gunther is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “a warrior.”
Original GermanGunter
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “a warrior.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
How it developed
From German Gunther, from Old High German Gundheri, from Proto-West Germanic *Gunþihari, from Proto-Germanic *Gunþiharjaz, built from Proto-Germanic *gunþiz + *harjaz.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1924. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gunther through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,098
- 1,098 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1995
- 32 babies
- 2025
- 17
- #5,466 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −10%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 17 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 5,466 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 10.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 32 in 1995. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,487 as a first name in 2020; 7,492 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gunther’s family of names
In German usage, Gunther shares a linguistic root with the Norwegian Nynorsk form Gunnar. In German usage, Gunther has a related form in Gunter. In German usage, Gunther has a related form in Gunter.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 17
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gunther
- Gunther von HagensGerman anatomist (1945–2026)
- Gunther SchullerAmerican composer and conductor (1925–2015)
- Gunther, Margrave of MerseburgGerman noble949–982
- Gunther TierschGerman rowerborn 1954
- Gunther of BohemiaChristian mystic955–1045
- Gunther BurstynAustro-Hungarian Army officer1879–1945
- Gunther PhilippAustrian actor (1918–2003)
- Gunther of PairisGerman poet and historian1150–1220
- Gunther O. HofmannGerman surgeon, biophysicist and professorborn 1957
Characters named Gunther: Gunther (the television series Friends).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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