Gerard

Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this case, those constituents are ''gari'' > ''ger-'' (meaning 'spear') and -''hard'' (meaning 'hard/strong/brave').

Common forms of the name are Gerard (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, Polish and Catalan); Gerrard (English, Scottish, Irish); (Italian, and Spanish); (Portuguese); (Italian); (Northern Italian, now only a surname); (variant forms and , now only surnames, French); (Irish); Gerhardt and Gerhart/Gerhard/Gerhardus (German, Dutch, and Afrikaans); (Hungarian); (Lithuanian) and / (Latvian); (Greece). A few abbreviated forms are Gerry and Jerry (English); (German) and (Afrikaans and Dutch); (Afrikaans and Dutch); (Afrikaans); (Dutch) and (Bulgarian).

The introduction of the name 'Gerard' into the English language took place following the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Its original forms in Old French were ", " and "".

Patronymic surnames derived from a form of Gerard include Garrard, Garritsen, Gerard, Geertsen, Gerardet, Gerardi, Gerdes, Gerrard, Gerretsen, Gerrits(e), Gerritsen, Ghiraldi, and Giraud.

The name Gerald, while phonetically similar to Gerard, derives from a slightly different set of constituents: ''ger'' and ''wald'' (meaning 'rule/lead'). Provided by Wikipedia