Gertruda
Almost 12,000 Polish women carry it, but you'd struggle to find a young one: newborns with the name have all but stopped, and meeting a Gertruda is memorable now. The name is Germanic, built from roots meaning "spear strength".
Gertruda Pronunciation
Gertruda is pronounced gert-ROO-dah (/gɛrtˈruda/).
What Gertruda means
Where Gertruda comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Gertruda is built from two old Germanic words: gēr, a spear, and þrūþ, strength. The same þrūþ turns up in Old Norse Þrúðr, a daughter of Thor. Together they give the sense the name still holds, spear strength, siła włóczni in Polish.
Two saints kept it in use. Gertruda of Nivelles, a seventh-century abbess in the Frankish lands, became a patron of travelers and, by later custom, a figure invoked against mice. Gertruda the Great, a thirteenth-century mystic and writer, lent the name a scholarly standing that lasted.
In Poland her name-day falls on 17 March. On a school class register the diminutive Gerda answers just as quickly. The name keeps shorter shapes as well: Gerda for every day, and Gertrud, the German variant, one step closer to that first spear.
How many people are named Gertruda
1 in 1894 women in Poland is named Gertruda. 11,904 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #342 among female names.
Gertruda's popularity over time
0 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Gertruda as a middle name
Gertruda is a first name for 11,904 women in Poland and a middle name for another 12,475, a 49/51 split — almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 101st, between Sandra (12,516) and Anita (12,390).
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99
12,610Lena
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100
12,516Sandra
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10112,475Gertruda
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102
12,390Anita
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103
12,221Mieczysława
When Gertruda celebrates name day
Gertruda appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 17 March.