Garrett (name)

See also All pages beginning with "Garrett"

Garrett is a surname and given name of old high german origin. It is one of the many baptismal surnames to have been derived from the popular names of Gerard and Gerald in 12th Century England. Both of these names were taken to Britain by the conquering Normans and are the Old French versions of ancient Germanic personal names. The name Gerard (or Germanic: Gerhard) is composed of the Germanic elements gēr or gār (meaning "spear") and hard ("brave", "hard" or "strong"), while Gerald is composed of again gēr or gār ("spear") and wald ("to rule") In America, it means "defender"[1][2][3][4] Although Garrett remains predominantly only a surname in England and Ireland, elsewhere in the Anglosphere it has become a popular masculine first name (e.g. in Ireland, and the United States).

Curiously, in addition to the Old English word gār meaning "spear"; Gār also has a corresponding rune (ᚸ) in the (Old English) Anglo-Saxon futhorc, which again has the meaning "spear" (and is transliterated into the modern letter G).

Other surnames derived from Gerard and Gerald include: Gerrard, Garratt, Garret, Garred, Garrad, Garrard, Garrod, Jarrett, Jared, Jarratt, Jarrard, and Jerrold.

Popularity

The popularity of Garrett as a first name in the United States has risen sharply in the last century, from number 522 in 1908 to a recent peak in 2000 at number 74.

Garrett's popularity from 1996 to 2006
Year Rank
2006 138
2005 124
2004 114
2003 106
2002 91
2001 80
2000 74
1999 78
1998 80
1997 85
1996 80
Source: Social Security Administration.
See http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames

People with the given name

People with the surname

Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. http://www.behindthename.com/name/gerald
  2. http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Gerrard
  3. http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Garrett
  4. Family Names And Family History, David Hey, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 1852855509, 9781852855505. page. 42


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