Humanverse

Gerane vs Gertrude

American parents have registered 177,668 Gertrudes since 1880, against 28 Geranes. Gertrude is still ahead, with 17 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Gerane 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

Gertrude has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1928, when Gerane had 14 and Gertrude had 3,023.

Side by side

  Gerane Gertrude
Total US births 28177,668
Most in one year 146,315
Babies in 2025 under 517
Estimated living today 314,000
Median age today 9680
Peak year 19281917
Best rank 2,381st girls37th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked6,546th
First recorded 19281880
Girls / boys 28 / 0177,100 / 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 Geranes alive today are over 96; half the Gertrudes are over 80. That is 16 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: Gerane and Gertrude.