Gerhard ( /ˈdʒɛrəd/ or /dʒəˈrɑrd/; French: ) is a male forename of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this case, those constituents are gari > ger- (meaning 'spear') and -hard (meaning 'hard/strong/brave').
Common forms of the name are Gerard (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, Polish and Catalan); Gerardo (Italian and Spanish); Gherardo (Italian); Gherardi (Italian, now only a surname); Gérard (Girard and Guérard, now only surnames, French); Gearóid (Irish); Gerhardt and Gerhart/Gerhard/Gerhardus (Afrikaans Dutch, and German); Gellért (Hungarian); Gerardas (Lithuanian) and Gerards (Latvian). A few abbreviated forms are Gerry and Jerry (English); Gert and Gerd (Afrikaans, Dutch and German); Gerrit (Afrikaans and Dutch); Gertjie (Afrikaans), and Geert (Dutch).
The surname Ge(e)rdes is a patronymic form, i.e. "the son of Ger(har)d", that originated in Frisia around 1800.
The name Gerald, while phonetically similar to Gerard, derives from a slightly different set of constituents : ger and wald (meaning 'rule/lead').