Girard
Masculine · “brave with a spear”
A man with this surname financed an American war almost single-handedly and then left his fortune to a school. He was born in France, made a great deal of money in Philadelphia shipping, and when the government could not raise a loan in the middle of a war he underwrote most of it himself.
How old is the name Girard?
Girard first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Girard alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 900 people named Girard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Girard most popular?
Girard peaked in 1905, reaching #1091 nationally. See the whole 1905 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gerhard to Girard
The story of Girard
The i and the e are French and Latin respectively. French wrote the name with an i in the first syllable — Girard is the standard French surname spelling and remains so — while the Latin form, and the English one taken from it, used an e. Neither is a variant of the other so much as two national conventions applied to the same Germanic name, and the g is soft in French and hard in German. A single letter distinguishing two countries' orthography, arriving in America as though it were somebody's spelling mistake.
Meaning
brave with a spear
Two Germanic elements, one meaning a spear and one meaning hardy or brave. The compound is well attested and the sense is not disputed, whichever spelling is used.
How the name formed
- Gerhard
- Gerard
- Girard
Related forms: Girard · Gerhard · Gherardo
Pronouncing Girard
juh-RARD
Two syllables with the weight at the back. The g is soft, which the French spelling assumes and the English reader has to work out.
Nicknames for Girard
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
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 192637 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1091reached in 1905
- Change vs 2000
- 0.0%6 in 2003, from 6
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.
Girard in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Girard in French — same name
- Gerhard in German — same name
- Gherardo in Italian — same name
Girards among us
people named Girard are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Girard sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a genuine French spelling rather than a respelling of an English one.
- The stress at the back gives it a decisive finish.
- The meaning is transparent once the two elements are pointed out.
- Gerard is commoner in English and this gets corrected.
- The opening consonant is ambiguous and strangers will guess.
- The generation that used it in America is now very old.
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Girard
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Girards are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Girard are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Girard in 2025?
- Girard is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Girard with classmates?
- Girard will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
George#126 · Gary#1073 · Gregory#593 · Gerald#1204 · Gabriel#37 · Glenn#1443 · Gavin#303 · Gordon#1051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Girard? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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