García

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Boy · Probably Basque

García

Say it: gar-THEE-ah

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Uncertain. Probably Basque; proposals include hartz 'bear' and gazte 'young', but none is settled.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

A royal name in Navarre and Castile from the 9th century that now lives on mainly as Spain's most common surname.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Girls 1986Boys 1914per million babies of that sex
  • 459 babies given this name since 1913
  • At its height in 1914, about 1 in 93,500 boys
  • Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  2. The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
  3. The Renaissance1400 to 1600

Used by

SpanishBasquePortuguese

The family of the name

PortugueseGarcia
CatalanGarcia

Famous bearers

  • García Íñiguez, king of Pamplona
  • García Sánchez III, king of Pamplona

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.