Girard

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Girard is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia

  Also written Gîrard, Girárd, Gîrãrd

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

66 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Girard is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, variant of Gerard (see Gerard). A family named Girard from Normandy was in Quebec city by 1660; another, from Le Mans, was in Quebec in 1663; and a third, from Poitou, was in Quebec city by 1666.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In French, a surname originating as a patronymic based on the given name Gérard

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, même origine que Guérard.

  as a name·Dictionnaire des noms de famille du Canada français. Anthroponymie et généalogie. 2e édition

• In Italian, forma setentrional francófona de Girardo

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In Italian, Variante di Gherardi

  as a name·Dizionario dei cognomi italiani

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• René Girardb. 1923FRFrench historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science
• Danièle Delormeb. 1926FRnot in their usual nameFrench actress and producer (1926–2015)
• François Girardb. 1963CAFrench-Canadian film director, playwright and screenwriter (born 1963)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

45 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 25 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Girard mean, and where does it come from?

Variant of Gérard, Germanic ger + hard, 'spear' + 'strong'. Recorded by Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms.

Which countries have the most people with the surname Girard?

Mondonomo estimates about 53 thousand people named Girard in France, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled girard. After it come Canada, United States, United Kingdom and Brazil; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Girard?

In the United States, the national register counted 12,975 people named Girard in 2010, about 1 in 26 thousand residents.

How common is Girard compared with other names?

In France, Girard is the 33rd most common surname of 1,200,812 surnames recorded there.