Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Garrett

Garrett is the transferred use of a surname with Germanic and French origins. It is derived from the ancient personal names Gerard and Gerald which were developed in the Dark Ages. Both given names start with the element “gari”’ which means ‘spear’ while the different name suffixes, i.e., Gerard comes from “hard” (meaning ‘brave’) and Gerald comes from “wald” ( meaning ‘rule’). The Dark Ages were characterized by a cultural and economic deterioration following the decline of the Roman Empire. Times were tough and personal names reflected a sense of robustness – such as ‘brave with the spear’ or ‘rule with a spear’ in the case of Gerard and Gerald, respectively. As a result, these names were quite popular which ensured their survival up to (and beyond) the introduction of surnames. Gerard and Gerald are two personal names that would develop into over 200 surnames, Garrett being one of them.

All About the Baby Name – Garrett

Personality

OF THE BOY NAME GARRETT

The number Eight personality has everything to do with power, wealth and abundance. Somehow, this personality has been blessed on the material plane, but their authoritative and problem-solving traits provide evidence that their good fortunes are not just the luck of the lottery. They are well earned. This is the personality of CEOs and high-ranking military personnel. Eights are intensely active, hard-driving individuals. Success is only meaningful to them after a job well-done.  They are remarkable in their ability to see the larger picture right down to the smallest details, and organize a strategy around success. They then have the ability to direct a group around them toward any goal, and realize individual potential to get the most out of their team.

Popularity

OF THE BOY NAME GARRETT

The name Garrett has been in constant use in America for well over a century. During the first half of the 20th century, the name was not popular by any means, in fact, it was used sparingly. However, by the 1960s the name began to show some life and would climb about 500 spots on the charts in the next 30 years. The year 1990 marks the first time Garrett achieved a position on the Top 100 list of most commonly used boy names. It’s time on that list would be short-lived however. It fell off in 2003 and has been slowly going backwards on the charts. It’s still a Top 200 favorite. They do love this name in Wyoming and Montana, however. It’s ranked 85th in Wyoming and 91st in Montana (based off 2011 data). We have to admit, there is a certain ruggedness to this name that must appeal to these wide open, lightly populated western frontier states. Garrett sounds like a man’s man. The brave carrier of a spear.

Quick Facts

ON GARRETT

GENDER:

Boy

ORIGIN:

French

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

2

RANKING POPULARITY:

227

PRONUNCIATION:

GEHR-et

SIMPLE MEANING:

Brave with a spear; rule with a spear

Characteristics

OF GARRETT

Authoritative

Powerful

Tough

Tenacious

Wealthy

Problem-solver

Achiever

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Garrett

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME GARRETT

We cannot find any significant literary characters by the name of Garrett

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME GARRETT

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Garrett


Popular Songs

ON GARRETT

We cannot find any popular or well-known songs with the name of Garrett


Famous People

NAMED GARRETT

Garrett the Great, 8th Earl of Kildare (Irish nobleman)
Garret FitzGerald (former Taoiseach of Ireland)
Garrett Hedlund (actor)
Garrett A. Morgan (African-American inventor
invented the gas mask and the traffic signal)
Garrett Morris (SNL cast member)
Garrett Wang (actor)

Children of Famous People

NAMED GARRETT

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Garrett

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME GARRETT

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Garrett