Gerard

Gerard is a Germanic given name composed of the elements gar, meaning spear, and hard, meaning brave or hardy, yielding an overall sense of brave with the spear. The name was introduced to England by the Normans and spread widely across medieval Europe, carried in part by Saint Gerard Majella, an 18th-century Italian lay brother venerated in the Catholic tradition. The French form Gérard and the Dutch, Catalan, and Polish form Gerard all descend from the same Germanic root. Related forms include Gerhard, Gerardo, and the contracted variant Garrett.