Girls' name · peaked in 1896

Gertrude name popularity since 1925

47,638 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Gertrude. Half of them were born in 1933 or earlier, so the typical Gertrude is about 93 years old in 2026. Gertrude peaked in 1896 as the #23 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 47,638; Named Gertrude, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1896; #23 for girls that year
Typical age: About 93; Median birth year 1933
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #6,632 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.6% girls; 47,459 girls · 179 boys
Most popular in: Maine; 2.83× its national share

Peak year is the year Gertrude made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Gertrude births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Gertrude peaked earlier, in 1896.

Steepest fall: Between 1941 and 1946, Gertrude's share of baby girls fell by 51%, from 1 in 1,210 to 1 in 2,460.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Gertrude's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Gertrude.

Decade by decade

Babies named Gertrude in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	16,988	66	–
1930s	16,137	101	#145
1940s	7,936	12	#262
1950s	3,936	0	#472
1960s	1,250	0	#975
1970s	380	0	#2,032
1980s	188	0	#5,155
1990s	102	0	#9,019
2000s	135	0	#8,040
2010s	236	0	#5,186
2020–25	171	0	#6,632

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

57.3% of babies named Gertrude from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Gertrude is most popular

The index compares Gertrude's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Gertrude.

State	Index	Babies
Maine	2.83×	549
Rhode Island	2.49×	400
Pennsylvania	2.16×	4,993
Massachusetts	2.04×	2,199
Mississippi	1.83×	1,008

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Gertrude's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Gertrude.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Gertrude (1896).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data