Explore the Family Name Gerrits

The meaning of Gerrits

Dutch and North German: patronymic from the personal name Gerrit, from an ancient Germanic name composed of the elements gār, gēr ‘spear, lance’ + hard ‘hardy, brave, strong’. History: The name Gerritse is recorded in Beverwyck in New Netherland (now Albany, NY) in the mid-17th century.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Gerrits has seen a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it was ranked 29,873rd amongst all surnames, but slipped to the 31,516th rank by 2010, marking a 5.5% drop. The number of people bearing the Gerrits surname also slightly dipped from 742 in 2000 to just 734 in 2010 — a marginal 1.08% decline. Moreover, the proportion of individuals with this surname per 100,000 decreased by 10.71%, from 0.28 to 0.25 during the same time frame.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#29,873	#31,516	-5.5%
Count	742	734	-1.08%
Proportion per 100k	0.28	0.25	-10.71%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gerrits

The ethnicity of individuals carrying the Gerrits surname, as per data from the Decennial U.S. Census, predominantly identifies as White, though there has been a minor shift over the decade. In 2000, approximately 96.77% identified as White, dropping to 95.23% in 2010. This represents a modest change of -1.59%. During the same period, we saw an increase in those identifying under two or more races, growing from 2.02% to 3.00%. There was no recorded data for Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities in either census year. However, the 2010 census did record a new appearance of Hispanic identity at 0.82%.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.77%	95.23%	-1.59%
Two or More Races	2.02%	3%	48.51%
Hispanic	0%	0.82%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%