First name content excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to 30,000 Baby Names © 2005 by Marcia Layton Turner. Buy this book online or call 1-800-253-6476.
Last name content copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks.
Last name origin & meaning:
German and Swiss German: from a medieval personal name, a short form of Gerhard or a similar name, formed with the first element gēr, gār ‘spear’ + the patronymic suffix -ing.