Gary (given name)
 Gary Cooper from (November 1952) | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | Germanic language |
| Meaning | Spear, Spear king |
| Other names | |
| Alternative spelling | Garry |
| Variant form(s) | none |
| Short form(s) | Gaz, Gazza, Gal |
Gary and Garry are English language masculine given names.
Etymology[]
Gary is likely derived from the Norman French name Geiree, itself descended from the Old Frankish[1] name Geiserich, composed of two elements: “*gaizaz” (spear, pike, javelin) plus “*rīkijaz” (kingly, royal).[2][3][4]
A variant form of Gary is Garry, the spelling of which has been influenced by that of Barry. An informal pet form of Gary is Gaz,[2][3] a variant of which is Gazza.[2]
A given name associated with Gary and Garry is Garrison; the latter is sometimes borne by sons of men bearing the former names.[3][5] The Gaelic Garaidh is also associated with Gary.[3]
Gary is also a popular name in India and is often stylized as Garry or Devanagari गैरी.[6]
Because of the "Gare" sound at the beginning in American English, Gary is sometimes incorrectly thought to be a diminutive of Garrett, however the names are unrelated.
History[]
The usage of Gary as a given name is intertwined with the success of the actor Gary Cooper (originally Frank Cooper). The American industrialist Elbert Henry Gary left his name to the town of Gary, Indiana. The theatrical agent Nan Collins, who lived in this town, suggested the name Gary to Frank Cooper, one of her clients. Cooper thus adopted the name Gary and enjoyed a successful film career (as Gary Cooper) which caused the name to become popular. The name's popularity was further maintained by the popularity of cricketer Gary Sobers (whose first name was actually a pet form of Garfield),[2][3] footballer Gary Lineker (b. 1960),[2] and musician Gary Glitter (originally Paul Gadd).[3]
According to the Social Security Administration,[7] Gary was relatively rare as a given name in the 1900-1920s period (e.g., in the 1910s it was the 677th most frequent name, given to less than 0.01% of the babies born in that decade). In the 1930s, 0.38% of the male babies in the United States were named Gary, and in the 1950s as many as 1.54% of the male babies were given this name, making it the 12th most popular given name of that decade.
The name Gary reached its record popularity (9th place) in 1954, the year after Gary Cooper received his Best Actor Academy Award for his leading role in High Noon. Since then, the popularity of Gary as a given name in the United States has been on a very slow, but steady decline. In the 1990s, this name was the 170th most popular, given to around 0.1% of newborn males.
In the United Kingdom, its popularity peaked during the 1960s (it was the 16th most popular male name in 1964) and still ranked as high as 26th in 1984, but by the 1990s had fallen out of the top 100.[8]
People[]
Engineers[]
- Gary Kildall, American computer scientist, microcomputer entrepreneur
- Gary McKinnon, Scottish systems administrator, hacker
- Garry Newman, founder of British video game developer Facepunch Studios
Entertainers[]
- Gary Bautell, American military radio broadcaster
- Gary Burghoff, American actor
- Gary Busey, American actor
- Gary Cole, American television and film actor
- Gary Coleman (1968–2010), American actor
- Gary Collins (actor), American television and film actor
- Gary Cooper, American film actor
- Gary Dell'Abate, American radio producer, television host
- Gary Dourdan, American actor
- Gary Farmer, Canadian actor
- Gary LeRoi Gray, American actor
- Gary Lucy, British actor
- Garry Marshall, American television producer
- Garry Moore, American actor and television personality
- Gary Oldman, English actor, filmmaker, musician
- Gary Ross, American writer, director, actor
- Garry Shandling (1949–2016), American actor and comedian
- Gary Sinise, American actor, film director, musician
- Gary Waldhorn (1943–2022), English actor
- Gary Winick, American film director, producer
Musicians[]
- Gary Barber, English singer songwriter
- Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter
- Garry Gary Beers, Australian bassist, INXS
- Gary Brooker, English singer, songwriter, pianist
- Gary Burton, American jazz vibraphonist
- Gary Cherone, American rock singer-songwriter
- Gary Clark Jr., American musician
- Gary Crosby (born 1955), British jazz double bassist, composer and educator.
- Gary Garcia, American musician, songwriter
- Gary Glitter, English glam rock singer and convicted child molester
- Gary Green (conductor), an American conductor
- Gary Green (musician) (born 1950), English multi-instrumentalist of Gentle Giant, Three Friends
- Gary M. Green, an American musician and entrepreneur
- Gary Holt (musician), Thrash metal guitarist, Exodus, Slayer
- Gary Kemp, British musician
- Garry Koehler, Australian songwriter
- Gary Lightbody, Northern Irish musician, songwriter
- Gary Lux, Austrian singer (Eurovision 1985 and 1987)
- Gary Moore (1952–2011), Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician
- Gary Morris country singer
- Gary Numan, English singer, composer, musician
- Gary Puckett, American singer, front man for the 1960s group, The Union Gap
- Gary Richrath (1949–2015), American rock guitarist, member of REO Speedwagon
- Gary Rossington, Guitarist, Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Gary Stewart (singer) (1944–2003), American country rock singer-songwriter and musician
- Gary Thain, New Zealand rock bassist
- Gary Valenciano, Filipino actor, singer-songwriter, and television host
Politicians[]
- Gary Condit, California congressman who was briefly a murder suspect
- Gary Doer, Canadian diplomat and politician
- Gary Elkins (Texas politician), American politician
- Gary Hart, American politician, lawyer, author, professor, commentator
- Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician
- Gary Locke, American politician
- Garry McCarthy, former superintendent of the Chicago Police Department
- Gary Smith (politician), American politician
Sports[]
- Gary Ablett Jr., Australian rules footballer
- Gary Ablett Sr., Australian rules footballer
- Gary Alexander (baseball), American baseball player
- Gary Alexander (basketball) (born 1969), American basketball player
- Gary Alexander (footballer), English footballer
- Gary Alexander (martial art pioneer), American martial artist
- Gary Alexander (wrestler), American Olympic wrestler
- Gary Anderson (darts player), Scottish darts player
- Gary Anderson (offensive lineman), American football player
- Gary Anderson (placekicker), American football player
- Gary Anderson (running back), American football player
- Gary Aramist, Israeli Olympic sport shooter
- Gary Bailey, English footballer
- Gary Baldinger, American football player
- Gary Balough, former NASCAR Cup Series driver
- Gary Barbaro, American football player
- Gary Barnidge, American football player
- Gary Bettman, American sports commissioner
- Gary Birtles, English football player
- Gary Brabham, Australian racing driver and convicted rapist
- Gary Brackett, American football player
- Gary Breen, Irish footballer
- Gary Brightwell (born 1999), American football player
- Gary Brown (running back), American football player
- Gary Burley, American football player
- Gary Cahill, English footballer
- Gary Campbell (linebacker), American football player
- Gary Carter, American baseball player
- Gary Clark (American football), American football player
- Gary Cohen, American baseball commentator
- Gary Collins (American football), American football player
- Gary Cunningham (born 1940/1941), American basketball coach and athletic director
- Gary Cuozzo, American football player
- Gary Danielson, American football player
- Gary Dunn, American football player
- Gary Fencik, American football player
- Gary Garrison, American football player
- Gary Gillespie, Scottish football player
- Garry Gilliam, American football player
- Gary Greaves, American football player
- Gary Green (American football), American football player
- Gary Green (baseball) , American baseball player
- Gary Green (baseball owner), American businessman and minor-league baseball team owner
- Gary Green (ice hockey), Canadian ice hockey player
- Gary Gussman, American football player
- Gary Hall, Jr., American swimmer
- Gary Hocking, Rhodesian motorcycle racer
- Gary Hogeboom, American football player
- Gary Holt (footballer), a Scottish footballer
- Gary Holt (ice hockey), a Canadian ice hockey player
- Gary Hughes, HGV Driver/FA Coach
- Gary Jennings Jr. (born 1997), American football player
- Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, American football player
- Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grand master and former world champion
- Gary Kelly (bowls), Northern Irish international indoor and lawn bowler
- Gary Kelly (footballer, born 1966), British football goalkeeper
- Gary Kelly (footballer, born 1974), Irish footballer who played for Leeds United
- Gary Knafelc, American football player
- Gary Kubiak, American football player and coach
- Gary Lane (gridiron football), American football player and referee
- Gary Larsen, American football player
- Gary Lineker, English footballer
- Gary Maloncon, American basketball player
- Gary Marangi, American football player
- Gary McSheffrey, English footballer
- Gary Medel, Chilean football player
- Gary Moeller, American football coach
- Gary Naysmith, Scottish footballer
- Gary Neville, English footballer
- Gary Paffett, English racing driver
- Gary Parris, American football player
- Gary Payton, American basketball player
- Gary Player, South African golfer
- Gary Plummer (American football), American football player
- Garry Ringrose, Irish rugby union player
- Gary Robinson (Canadian football), Canadian football player
- Gary Sheffield, American baseball player
- Gary Spani, American football player
- Gary Speed, Welsh footballer and manager
- Gary M. Stevens, English footballer
- Gary Stills, American football player
- Gary Trent Jr., American basketball player
- Gary Walker (defensive back), American football player
- Gary Walker (defensive end), American football player
- Gary Wisener, American football player
- Gary Zimmerman, American football player
Writers[]
- Gary Gygax, American writer and game designer
- Gary "Garrison" Keillor, American writer
- Gary Larson, American cartoonist
- Gary Snyder, American poet
- Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
- Gary Younge (born 1969), British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic
Others[]
- Gary Arndt, American travel photographer
- Gary Becker, American economist
- Gary Born, international lawyer and academic
- Gary Brolsma, Internet celebrity
- Gary Evans (psychologist), Professor of Human Ecology in the Cornell University College of Human Ecology
- Gary Evans (serial killer) (1954–1998), American thief and confessed serial killer
- Gary Fisher, one of the inventors of the modern mountain bike
- Gary L. Francione, American legal scholar
- Gary Gilmore, executed American criminal
- Gary Gordon, American military sniper
- Gary Heidnik, American rapist and killer
- Gary Owen (disambiguation), several people
- Gary Plauché (1945–2014), American man known for the 1984 vigilante killing of Jeff Doucet
- Gary Ridgway, American fugitive
- Gary Stephen Krist, American fugitive
Fictional characters[]
- Gary, a character played Jason Priestley in the 1986 American fantasy drama film The Boy Who Could Fly
- Gary Oak, Pokémon researcher
- Gary the Snail, SpongeBob's pet snail on the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants
- Gary Chalmers, a superintendent in the animated series The Simpsons
- Gary Smith, from the 2006 video game Bully
- Gary "Roach" Sanderson, protagonist of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Gary the Gadget Guy, in the Disney video game Club Penguin
- Gary, from the episode Sucker of Soul of Netflix original series Love, Death & Robots
- Gary Goodspeed, the main character of Netflix original series Final Space
- Gary Harrison, in the "All About Mormons" episode of South Park
- Gary Gulliver, the protagonist of Hanna-Barbera's 1968 animated TV series The Adventures Of Gulliver
- Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, main protagonist of the Kingsman film series
- Gary Windass, in the British TV soap opera Coronation Street
- , character in the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife
See also[]
- Nathan Lyon (born 1987), Australian cricketer, nicknamed Garry
References[]
- ^ https: https://www.name-doctor.com/name-geiserich-meaning-of-geiserich-40747.html
- ^ a b c d e Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, pp. 106–107, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
- ^ a b c d e f Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2003), A dictionary of first names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0198606055
- ^ "Gary", Dictionary.com, retrieved 24 July 2013
- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A dictionary of first names (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 107, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
- ^ "Garry Name Meaning - Garry meaning, Hindu Girls & Boys Names". hamariweb.com. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
- ^ Social Security Administration – Popular Baby Names
- ^ babynames.co.uk
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