How common is the surname Gerlach?

7,394 people in the United States had the surname Gerlach in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 41,756 Americans. It ranked 4,784th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Gerlach?

In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Gerlach identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Gerlach?

Jim Gerlach, American politician.

Where is the surname Gerlach most common?

Wikidata records people named Gerlach in the United States.

Is the surname Gerlach getting more or less common?

More common. 7,181 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,394 in 2010, up 3.0%.

The surname Gerlach

A surname, carried by 7,394 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex G642

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Gerlach is more common than 97.1% of them.

Origin

From the German and Dutch surname, a personal name of Germanic origin, composed of *gaiʀ (“spear”) and *laik (“sport, game”), meaning something like "spear-thrower." Compare Garlick, Garlock, Carlock.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 7,394 people named Gerlach in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 41,756 Americans. That is up 3.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,181.

#4,784

rank among US surnames

7,394

people in 2010

2.5

per 100,000 Americans

+3%

change since 2000 (was #4,536)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,775	Lew	7,410	41,666
#4,776	Hintz	7,406	41,689
#4,777	Fiedler	7,403	41,705
#4,778	Upshaw	7,401	41,717
#4,779	Cushman	7,400	41,722
#4,780	Moorman	7,399	41,728
#4,781	Pellegrino	7,398	41,734

Who is named Gerlach

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

96% of people named Gerlach identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 96%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Gerlachs

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Jim Gerlach
American politician, born 1955

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Gerlac
Gerlache

Gerlach has the Soundex code G642, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G642.

Questions

Where does the surname Gerlach come from?: From the German and Dutch surname, a personal name of Germanic origin, composed of *gaiʀ (“spear”) and *laik (“sport, game”), meaning something like "spear-thrower." Compare Garlick, Garlock, Carlock.
How common is the surname Gerlach?: 7,394 people in the United States had the surname Gerlach in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 41,756 Americans. It ranked 4,784th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Gerlach?: In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Gerlach identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Gerlach?: Jim Gerlach, American politician.
Where is the surname Gerlach most common?: Wikidata records people named Gerlach in the United States.
Is the surname Gerlach getting more or less common?: More common. 7,181 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,394 in 2010, up 3.0%.
What are other spellings of Gerlach?: Gerlac and Gerlache.