Head to head · Boys' names
Gerardo vs Trevor
#678 vs #679 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Gerardo is a whisker ahead (#678 vs #679 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Gerardo leads 3 measures of 6; Trevor leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1900s: Gerardo #1313, Trevor — — Gerardo higher
- 1910s: Gerardo #1881, Trevor #2453 — Gerardo higher
- 1920s: Gerardo #1708, Trevor #2632 — Gerardo higher
- 1930s: Gerardo #1614, Trevor #2045 — Gerardo higher
- 1940s: Gerardo #1250, Trevor #1533 — Gerardo higher
- 1950s: Gerardo #670, Trevor #1151 — Gerardo higher
- 1960s: Gerardo #461, Trevor #567 — Gerardo higher
- 1970s: Gerardo #327, Trevor #193 — Trevor higher
- 1980s: Gerardo #292, Trevor #117 — Trevor higher
- 1990s: Gerardo #225, Trevor #64 — Trevor higher
- 2000s: Gerardo #254, Trevor #111 — Trevor higher
- 2010s: Gerardo #436, Trevor #282 — Trevor higher
- 2020s: Gerardo #594, Trevor #543 — Trevor higher
Gerardo stood higher in 7 of 13 decades; Trevor has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Gerardo | Trevor |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | #1313 | — |
| 1910s | #1881 | #2453 |
| 1920s | #1708 | #2632 |
| 1930s | #1614 | #2045 |
| 1940s | #1250 | #1533 |
| 1950s | #670 | #1151 |
| 1960s | #461 | #567 |
| 1970s | #327 | #193 |
| 1980s | #292 | #117 |
| 1990s | #225 | #64 |
| 2000s | #254 | #111 |
| 2010s | #436 | #282 |
| 2020s | #594 | #543 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Gerardo
spear-brave, from Germanic ger (spear) and hard (bold, hardy)
Gerhard → Gerardus → Gérard → Gerardo
How it traveled
" Frankish and Lombard settlers carried it into what is now France and Italy, where it was reshaped by Romance mouths into Gérard, Gerardo and Geraldo; medieval Latin documents record it as Gerardus. Its Italian form belonged to Saint Gerard Majella, the eighteenth-century Redemptorist lay brother venerated as a patron of mothers and expectant mothers — a devotion that helped keep Gerardo alive in Catholic Italy and, through Spanish, across Latin America.
Trevor
Big settlement
From Welsh Trefor, from tref, 'homestead, town', and mawr, 'big'.
Trefor → Trevor
How it traveled
In Johannesburg in the 1950s the English priest Trevor Huddleston, who fought apartheid from the township of Sophiatown, gave a schoolboy called Hugh Masekela his first trumpet; Masekela became one of the great jazz musicians of Africa, and Louis Armstrong later sent the school band another. In 1945 Trevor Howard played the doctor in David Lean's Brief Encounter, who falls in love with a married woman at a railway station and lets her go.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Gerardo
heh-RAR-doh
That is the Spanish pronunciation, with a breathy initial G. Italian speakers say jeh-RAR-doh, and English speakers often land on juh-RAR-doh. All three are heard in the US, so it is worth deciding early which one your family will offer.
- Gera — The everyday short form in Spanish-speaking families; informal, rarely used on documents.
- Gerry — Common in English-speaking settings, also spelled Jerry; stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Yayo — An affectionate Spanish hypocoristic, used mostly within the family.
- Lalo — Used in Mexican and Central American families, though it more often belongs to Eduardo.
Trevor
TREV-er
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
- Trev — The usual short form.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Gerardo if you want…
- a name with more sound in itGerardo runs 3 syllables, Trevor 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Gera, Gerry and Yayo
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 73% for Trevor
Choose Trevor if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsTrevor is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesTrevor is 2 syllables to Gerardo's 3
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Trevor (Trev)
- a name that feels very nowTrevor is stepping back from its peak
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Gerardo
Strengths
- Works unchanged in Spanish and Italian, and has close relatives — Gerard, Gérard, Gerhard — in English, French and German.
- A documented line back to Germanic Gerhard, in continuous use for over a millennium.
- Several established short forms already in circulation: Gera, Gerry, Yayo.
To consider
- The initial G is the sticking point in English-speaking places: expect juh-RAR-doh from teachers and strangers unless you correct it. Many families simply accept both pronunciations.
- It is easily confused in writing with Geraldo, Gerald and Gerard, so spelling it out over the phone becomes routine.
- Outside Texas, California and the Southwest it is much less familiar, and it has been stepping back from its high point — a child named Gerardo is unlikely to share the name with a classmate.
Trevor
Strengths
- Instantly recognized and spelled as everyone expects.
- A settled Welsh meaning.
- Comes with Trev as a ready short form.
To consider
- It was very common a generation ago, so it reads as a name of that era.
- In Britain it can sound more middle-aged than it does in America.
- For a girl it would be very unusual.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Gerardo
40%chance Gerardo feels dated by 2040
Gerardo sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Trevor
73%chance Trevor feels dated by 2040
Trevor is coming down from a big peak (#58 in 1994). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Gerardo and Trevor in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Gerardo and Trevor?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- The best baby names starting with G
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- One-decade wonders
- Names that belong entirely to the 1990s
- all guides
Where Gerardo and Trevor each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Gerardo or Trevor — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Gerardo or Trevor?
- Gerardo, in 2025: Gerardo ranked #678 with 401 babies; Trevor ranked #679 with 400 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Gerardo or Trevor?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Gerardo moved down 123 places; Trevor moved down 273 places.
- Which is the older name, Gerardo or Trevor?
- Gerardo entered the US charts in 1906; Trevor entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Gerardo is the older name.
- How many people are named Gerardo and Trevor?
- About 52,000 people named Gerardo are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 155,000 people named Trevor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Gerardos or Trevors in the classroom?
- Gerardo will almost certainly be the only one in school. Trevor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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