Gentry
Masculine · “people of good birth”
Gentry is given to both — 4,287 boys and 2,777 girls since 1880. See Gentry as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Gentry is the landed class below the nobility, and the word came from the French for high birth — genterie, from gentil, which also gives gentle and genteel.
How old is the name Gentry?
Gentry first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Gentry alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 3,600 people named Gentry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gentry most popular?
Gentry peaked in 1884, reaching #971 nationally. Today it ranks #1808, 837 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gentil to Gentry
The story of Gentry
The gentry were the class between the nobility and the yeomanry, holding land but no title, and they governed English counties for four centuries. The surname came from the word. It entered American given-name use in the twentieth century for both sexes and appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
people of good birth
From the Old French genterie, 'nobility of birth', from gentil, 'high-born' — the same word that gives gentle, genteel and gentleman. The English 'gentle' meant well-born long before it meant mild. The etymology is documented and undisputed.
How the name formed
- gentil
- genterie
- gentry
- Gentry
Related forms: Gentil · Gentrie
Pronouncing Gentry
JEN-tree
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is a homophone of the ordinary English noun.
Nicknames for Gentry
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 2020133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #971reached in 1884
- Change vs 2023
- −31.8%88 in 2025, from 129
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Gentry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gentil in French — related form
- Gentrie in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Missouri.
Gentrys among us
people named Gentry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 19,410 born in 2025 was named Gentry
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Gentry 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Gentry is headed
Gentry should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Gentry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gentry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The gentle-meant-well-born etymology is a genuinely good piece of word history.
- It records a real and consequential English social class.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is an ordinary English noun for a social class.
- It is thoroughly unisex in American use.
- It carries a claim about rank that some families will weigh.
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What they receive
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Gentry
Masculine · #1808 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gentrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,600 people named Gentry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gentry in 2025?
- Gentry ranks #1808 among US boy names in 2025, with 88 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gentry?
- About 1 in every 19,410 US boys born in 2025 was named Gentry — 88 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gentry with classmates?
- Gentry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gentry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Honor#1808 · Tamir#1808 · Alakai#1808 · Callaway#1808 · Arsiah#1808 · Avrohom#1808 · Tyree#1808 · Presley#1808
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gentry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gentry and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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