Explore the Family Name Gerrish

The meaning of Gerrish

1. English (southwestern): nickname for an unpredictable, wayward person, from Middle English gerysshe ‘wild, changeable’. 2. Americanized form of German Gerisch 1 or 2, and of Sorbian Geriš and Gěriš or their Germanized form Gerisch 3.

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Gerrish has seen a drop in popularity between 2000 and 2010. Ranked at 15,413 in 2000, it fell to 16,536 by 2010, indicating a decline of 7.29%. Similarly, the count of individuals with this surname also slightly decreased by 0.57% from 1,746 in 2000 to 1,736 in 2010. The proportion of Gerrish per 100k people also witnessed a fall of 9.23%, going from 0.65 in 2000 to 0.59 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#15,413	#16,536	-7.29%
Count	1,746	1,736	-0.57%
Proportion per 100k	0.65	0.59	-9.23%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gerrish

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the majority of individuals with the Gerrish surname identify as White, making up 95.93% in 2000 and 95.22% in 2010. There was a minor decrease of 0.74% over the decade. On the other hand, the Hispanic representation within the Gerrish population more than doubled from 1.03% in 2000 to 2.19% in 2010, marking an increase of 112.62%. Those who identify as Asian/Pacific Islander also saw a rise from 0.63% to 0.75%. Meanwhile, the number of Gerrish identifying as two or more races dropped by 40.09% during this period. The Black population along with American Indian and Alaskan Native remained constant at 0% for both these years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.93%	95.22%	-0.74%
Hispanic	1.03%	2.19%	112.62%
Two or More Races	2.12%	1.27%	-40.09%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.63%	0.75%	19.05%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%