Gertrude (also spelled Gertrud) is a feminine given name which is derived from Germanic roots that meant "spear" and "strength". "Trudy", originally a diminutive of "Gertrude", has developed into a name in its own right.
In German-speaking countries, (pronounced Ger-trowt) is a familiar variation of the name.
"Gartred" is a rare variation (attested in Daphne du Maurier's novel The King's General, set in 17th-century Cornwall, England).
"Gertruda" is a rare variation used in the Soviet Union (see Names of Soviet origin) as an abbreviation of Geroy truda (the Hero of Labour).Valeri Mokiyenko, "Толковый словарь языка Совдепии" ("Explanatory Dictionary of Sovdepiya"), St. Petersburg, Фолио-Пресс, 1998, .
People
Medieval women without surnames Gertrude of Aldenberg (1227–1297), daughter of Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia and abbess near Trier Gertrude of Austria (1226–1288), Duchess of Austria and Styria Gertrude of Babenberg, Duchess of Bohemia (c. 1118–1150) Gertrude of Baden (c. 1160–1225), Margravine of Baden Gertrude of Bavaria (died 1197), daughter of Henry the Lion, Queen consort of Denmark Gertrude of Brunswick (c. 1060–1117), Margravine of Frisia and Meissen Gertrude of Comburg (died 1130), Queen consort of Germany Gertrude of Dagsburg (died 1225), Duchess of Lorraine Gertrude of Delft (died 1358), Dutch Beguine and mystic Gertrude of Flanders, Countess of Savoy (1135–1186) Gertrude of Flanders, Duchess of Lorraine (c. 1070–1117) Gertrude the Great (1256–c. 1302), also known as Gertrude of Helfta, German Benedictine nun, mystic and theologian, considered a Roman Catholic saint though never officially canonized Gertrude of Hackeborn (1223–1292), Abbess of Helfta Gertrude of Hamage (died 649), saint, founder of the convent Hamage Gertrude of Hohenberg (c. 1225–1281), Queen consort of Germany Gertrude of Merania (1185–1213), Queen consort and regent of Hungary Gertrude of Nivelles (c. 628–659), Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint, abbess and co-founder of the Abbey of Nivelles Gertrude of Poland ( 1025–1108), Grand Princess Consort of Kiev Gertrude of Saxony or Gertrude of Holland (ca.1030-1113), wife of Robert I of Flanders, regent of Holland Gertrude of Sulzbach (c. 1110–1146), Queen consort of Germany Gertrude of Süpplingenburg (1115–1143), Duchess of Bavaria and Saxony
A Gertrude Abercrombie (1909–1977), American painter based in Chicago Gertrud Adelborg (1853–1942), Swedish suffragist Gertrud Ahlgren (1782–1874), Swedish folk healer Gertrude Alderfer (1931–2018), American baseball player Gertrude Ansell (1861–1932), British suffragette, animal rights activist and businesswoman Gertrude Appleyard (1865–1917), British archer Gertrude Aretz (1889–1938), German historian and publisher Gertrude Astor (1887–1977), American motion-picture character actress Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948), American writer Gertrude Aubauer (born 1951), Austrian journalist and politician Gertraud Auinger-Oberzaucher (born 1971), Austrian politician
B Gertrud Bacher (born 1971), retired Italian heptathlete Gertrude Bacon (1874–1948), aeronautical pioneer and writer with contributions in astronomy and botany Gertrud Baer (1890–1981), one of the founders of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Gertrude Bambrick (1897–1974), American silent-film actress Gertrude Baniszewski (1929–1990), American murderer Gertrud Bäumer (1873–1954), German politician and feminist Gertrude Bell, (1868–1926), archaeologist and spy Gertrude Barrows Bennett (1883–1948), American writer of fantasy and science fiction Gertrude Berg (1894–1966), American actress and screenwriter Gertrude Bernard (1906–1986), Mohawk woman and companion of Grey Owl Gertrud Bing (1892–1964), German scholar and director of the Warburg Institute Gertrude Blanch (1897–1996), American mathematician Gertrude Bloede (1845–1905), American poet Gertrude Blom (1901–1993), Swiss journalist, social anthropologist and documentary photographer Gertrude Elizabeth Blood (1857–1911), Irish-born journalist, author, playwright, and editor Gertrude Bonnin (1876–1938), Sioux writer, editor, musician, teacher and political activist Gertrud Bürgers-Laurenz (1874–1959), German flower and portrait painter Gertrude Bryan (1888–1976), stage actress on Broadway
C Gertrude Caton Thompson (1888–1985), English archaeologist Gertrude Chataway (1866–1951), child-friend of English author Lewis Carroll Gertrude Chibagu, Zimbabwean politician Gertrude Claire (1852–1928), American stage and silent-film actress Gertrud Cohn (1876–1942), German victim of the Nazi regime Gertrude Colburn (1886–1968), American dancer and sculptor Gertrude Cosgrove (1882–1962), wife of Sir Robert Cosgrove, twice elected as Premier of Tasmania Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter (before 1504–1558), a lady at the court of Henry VIII of England Gertrude Mary Cox (1900–1978), American statistician Gertrude Crain (1911–1996), American publishing executive Gertrude Crampton (1909–1996), American children's writer and teacher Gertrude Crocker (1884–1969), American suffragist
D Gertrude Degenhardt (1940–2025), German lithographer and illustrator Gertrude Denman, Baroness Denman (1884–1954), British women's rights activist Gertrud Hedwig Anna Dohm (1855–1942), German actress Gertrud Dorka (1893–1976), German archaeologist, prehistorian and museum director Gertrude Dunn (1933–2004), American baseball player
E Gertrude Eastmond (died 2024), Barbadian businesswoman and politician Gertrude Ederle (1905–2003), American competitive swimmer Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999), American biochemist and pharmacologist Gertrude Elles (1872–1960), British geologist
F Gertrude Falk (1925–2008), American physiologist Gertrude Franklin (1858–1913), American singer and music educator Gertrud Fridh (1921–1984), Swedish stage and film actress
G Gertrude Gabl (1948–1976), Austrian alpine skier
Gertraud Gruber (1921–2022), German beautician and businesswoman Gertrud Grunow (1870–1944), first woman teacher at the Bauhaus art school
H Gertrud Hanna (1876–1944), German activist and politician Gertrude Healy (1894–1984), Australian violinist, educator Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922–2019), American historian Gertrud von Hindenburg (1860–1921), German noblewoman and wife of Paul von Hindenburg
J Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932), British horticulturist, garden designer, artist, and writer Gertraud Junge (1920–2002), Adolf Hitler's last private secretary
K Gertrude Kleinová (1918–1976), Czech three-time table tennis world champion Gertrud Koch (1924–2016), German resistance fighter Gertrud Kolmar (1894–1943), German lyric poet and writer Gertrude Koskoff (1911–1992), American politician Gertrud Kraus (1901–1977), Israeli pioneer of modern dance Gertrude Kuh (1893–1977), American landscape architect
L Gertrude Lane (died 1953), American trade unionist Gertrude Battles Lane (1874–1941), American magazine editor Gertrude Lawrence (1898–1952), born Gertrude Alice Dagmar Klasen, English actress, singer, dancer and performer Gertrud Leutenegger (1948–2025), German-speaking Swiss writer Gertrude Rachel Levy (1884–1966), author and cultural historian Gertrude Golda Lowy (1887–1982), English suffragette Gertrud Luckner (1900–1995), German Christian resister against Nazism
M Gertrud Månsson (1866–1935), Swedish politician, first woman on the Stockholm city council Gertrud Elisabeth Mara (1749–1833), German operatic soprano Gertrude Massey (1868–1957), English painter and watercolourist Gertrude Massingham (1887–1963), British suffragette and animal welfare advocate Frances Gertrude McGill (1882–1959), pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist and criminologist Gertrude Mongella (born 1945), Tanzanian politician Gertrude Morgan (1900–1980), African-American artist, musician, poet and preacher Gertrude Comfort Morrow (c. 1888–1983), American architect Gertrude Mwanyanje, Kenyan politician
N Gertrude Nafe (1883–1971), American teacher, essayist, and communist short-story writer Gertrude Neumark (1927–2010), American physicist
O Gertrud Orff (1914–2000), one of the first German music therapists Gertrud Otto (1895–1970), German art historian Gertrude Clare Owens (1887–1963), Superior General of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana
P Gertrud Pätsch (1910–1994), German ethnologist and philologist Gertrud Pålson-Wettergren (1897–1991), Swedish mezzo-soprano Gertrude Penhall (1846–1929), American civic leader and clubwoman Gertrud von Puttkamer (1881–1944), German erotic writer
R Gertrude Pridgett Rainey (1882–1939), better known as Ma Rainey, blues singer Gertrud Rask (1673–1735), first wife of the Danish-Norwegian missionary to Greenland, Hans Egede Gertrud Rittmann (1908–2005), German composer and music arranger in the United States
S Gertrude Sawyer (1895–1996), American architect Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911–1998), German-born Jewish-American nuclear physicist Gertrud Schoenberg (1898–1967), second wife of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg Gertrud Scholtz-Klink (1902–1999), fervent Nazi Party (NSDAP) member in Nazi Germany Gertrud Schüpbach (born 1950), Swiss-American molecular biologist Gertrud Seidmann (1919–2013), Austrian-British linguist and jewelry historian Gertrud Skomagers (died 1556), Danish alleged witch Gertrude Stanton (1863–1931), American optometrist Gertrúd Stefanek (born 1959), Hungarian Olympic fencer Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector Gertrude Story (1929–2014), Canadian writer and radio broadcaster Gertrude Strohm (1843–1927), American author, compiler, game designer Gertrud Szabolcsi (1923–1993), Hungarian biochemist
T Gertrude Townend, British nurse and suffragette
U Trude Unruh (1925–2021), German politician
V Gertrude Vachon (1962–2010), better known as Luna Vachon, American professional wrestler Gertrude Vaile (1878–1954), American social worker
W Gertrude Wagner (1907–1992), Austrian sociologist, economist and socialist Gertrude Chandler Warner (1890–1979), American children's author Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), American sculptor, art patron and collector Gertrude Walton Donahey (1908–2004), American politician Gertrude Weil (1879–1971), American activist in women's suffrage, labor reform, and civil rights Gertraud Winkelvoss (1917–1981), German neo-Nazi politician Gertrud Wolle (1891–1952), German film actress Gertrude Wood (1897–1998), American politician
Fictional characters Gertrude, from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, is Hamlet's mother and Queen of Denmark Gertrud Barkhorn, from the anime/manga series Strike Witches Gertrude Gadwall, a member of Disney's Duck family
See also Gertrude (disambiguation), for a list of fictional characters and people known by only one name Gertrudis Geertruida
References