Geert
Geert | |
---|---|
Pronunciation | Dutch: [ɣeːrt] |
Gender | male |
Origin | |
Word/name | Germanic |
Meaning | Strong/Brave with the Spear |
Region of origin | Most common in The Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) |
Other names | |
Related names | Gert, Gerd, Gertje, Geertje, Gerrit, Gerry, Jerry, Gerard, Gerhard, Gerald, Gerardus |
Look up Geert in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
‘Geert’ is a Dutch forename of Germanic origin, equivalent to German Gerd and English Gerry. The name is a condensed form of ‘Gerhard’, itself a combination of the Germanic words ‘ger’ (spear) and ‘hard’ (strong or brave) meaning 'Strong or Brave with the Spear'. The name's common female equivalent is 'Geertje'.
The pronunciation of the name varies slightly, depending on whether or not the speaker uses a variety of Dutch which distinguishes between the phonemes /x/ and /ɣ/. While speakers of most northern varieties of Dutch, which do not distinguish between the two phonemes, will pronounce the name as [χeːrt] or [xeːrt], speakers of southern varieties will generally pronounce it as [ɣeːrt].
Although 'Geert' can be used as a name in its own right, it is often the given name of persons who are formally called Gerard or Gerardus. The latter name refers usually to Saint Gerard of Toul or Saint Gerard Majella.
Notable people with the name Geert
- Geert Groote (1340–84), Dutch preacher and founder of the Brethren of the Common Life
- Geert Mak (1946-), Dutch sociologist, historian and writer
- Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c. 1465 – c. 1495), Dutch painter
- Geert Wilders (1963-), Dutch politician
- Geert Bourgeois (1951-) Minister-President of Flanders
In dance
- Geert, a role in August Bournonville's comic ballet The Kermesse in Bruges