Explore the Family Name Gehr

The meaning of Gehr

German: 1. from a short form of the various personal names formed with Old High German gār, gēr ‘spear, lance’ (see, for example, Gerhardt, Gerhold). 2. topographic name from the Middle Low German and Middle High German word gēre, used to denote a wedge-shaped plot.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Gehr in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Gehr saw a slight dip in rank from 24,584 in 2000 to 25,701 in 2010, a change of -4.54%. Despite this decrease in popularity rank, the total count of individuals with the Gehr surname increased slightly from 953 to 959, marking a 0.63% growth. The proportion per 100,000 also decreased by -5.71 indicating that while the absolute number of people bearing the surname increased marginally, its relative frequency compared to other surnames declined.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#24,584	#25,701	-4.54%
Count	953	959	0.63%
Proportion per 100k	0.35	0.33	-5.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gehr

Analyzing the ethnicity associated with the surname Gehr, it is evident from the Decennial U.S. Census data that the majority identify as White, with the percentage decreasing slightly from 96.12% in 2000 to 94.89% in 2010. The Hispanic representation saw an increase of 29.05%, moving from 2.10% to 2.71% over the ten years. There was also a new appearance of Black ethnicity at 0.73% in 2010. The proportion identifying with two or more races fell from 1.26% to 0.83%, marking a significant decline of -34.13%. Data for Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnicities were either not available or suppressed for privacy.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.12%	94.89%	-1.28%
Hispanic	2.1%	2.71%	29.05%
Two or More Races	1.26%	0.83%	-34.13%
Black	0%	0.73%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%