Gerlach is a male forename of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this case, those constituents are ''ger'' (meaning 'spear') and ''/la:k /'' (meaning 'motion'). The meaning of the name is thus 'spear thrower'.
It became a

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

, and a source from which other surnames have been derived, as well.

Personal name

* Saint Gerlach (died c. 1170), Dutch saint * Gerlach I of Isenburg-Arnfels, Count of Isenburg-Arnfels from 1286 (1287) until 1303 * Gerlach I of Isenburg-Wied, Count of Isenburg-Wied from 1409 until 1413 * Gerlach I of Nassau-Wiesbaden (before 1288-1361), Count of Nassau * Gerlach II of Isenburg-Arnfels, Count of Isenburg-Arnfels from 1333 until 1379 * Gerlach II of Isenburg-Covern, Count of Isenburg-Covern from 1158 until 1217 * Gerlach III of Isenburg-Covern, Count of Isenburg-Covern from 1217 until 1235 * Gerlach IV of Isenburg-Limburg (died 1289), Lord of Limburg an der Lahn * Gerlach V of Isenburg-Limburg (died 1355), Count of Isenburg-Limburg; grandson of Gerlach IV * Gerlach VI of Isenburg-Limburg (died 1365), Count of Isenburg-Limburg and Lord of Limburg an der Lahn; son of Gerlach V * Gerlach Flicke (''fl.'' 1545-1558), German portrait painter of the English Tudor court * Gerlach Cornelis Joannes van Reenen (1818–1893), Dutch politician

Surname

* Annette Gerlach (born 1964), German TV host * Carl Gotthelf Gerlach (1704–1761), German organist and music director * Carl Ludvig Gerlach (1832–1893), Danish composer and opera singer * Carl R. Gerlach, mayor of Overland Park, Kansas * Charles L. Gerlach (1895-1947), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania * Chris Gerlach (born 1964), American politician *

Christian Gerlach Hans Christian Gerlach is professor of Modern History at the University of Bern. Gerlach is also Associate Editor of the '' Journal of Genocide Research'' and author of multiple books dealing with the Hunger Plan, the Holocaust, and genocide. ...

, professor of modern history at the University of Bern *

Daniel Gerlach Daniel Gerlach (born 1977) is a German author, journalist, publisher and Middle East expert. He is the current editor-in-chief of the German Middle East quarterly magazine zenith and director-general of the Candid Foundation. Career Gerlach s ...

(born 1977), German journalist * Dave Gerlach (1940–2020), Canadian curler * Elsie Gerlach, 20th century dental educator *

Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach (7 March 1795 – 18 February 1877) was a Prussian politician, editor and judge. He is considered one of the main founders and leading thinkers of the Conservative Party (Prussia), Conservative Party in Kingdom of Prussi ...

(1795-1877), Prussian judge and politician * Hellmut von Gerlach (1866-1935), German journalist and politician *

Jim Gerlach James William Gerlach (born February 25, 1955) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Gerlach retired from Congress after completing his sixth term. Early life, education and c ...

(born 1955), U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania *

Joseph von Gerlach Joseph von Gerlach (3 April 1820 – 17 December 1896) was a German professor of anatomy at the University of Erlangen. He was a native of Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Gerlach was a pioneer of histological staining and anatomical micrograph ...

(1820-1896), German anatomist and professor * Kurt Albert Gerlach (1886-1922), German sociologist * Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach (1790-1861), Prussian general * Manfred Gerlach (1928-2011), head of state of East Germany (1989-1990) * Otto von Gerlach (1801-1849), German theologian and pastor * Talitha Gerlach (1896–1995), American YMCA worker who spent most of her life as a social worker in Shanghai, China *

Walther Gerlach Walther Gerlach (1 August 1889 – 10 August 1979) was a German physicist who co-discovered, through laboratory experiment, spin quantization in a magnetic field, the Stern–Gerlach effect. The experiment was conceived by Otto Stern in 1921 an ...

(1889-1979), German physicist * Wim Gerlach (1935-2007), Dutch Olympic boxer * Irene Gerlach, fictional character in Erich Kästner's ''

Lottie and Lisa ''Lisa and Lottie'', published in the United Kingdom and Australia as ''The Parent Trap'', (original German title: ''Das doppelte Lottchen'', "The Double Lottie") is a 1949 German children's novel by Erich Kästner. The book is about identical ...

Place

* Gerlach, a census-designated place in the U.S. state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Gerlachovský štít Gerlachovský štít (, translated into English as ''Gerlachov Peak'', German: ''Gerlsdorfer Spitze'', Hungarian: ''Gerlachfalvi-csúcs''), informally referred to as Gerlach, is the highest peak in the High Tatras, in Slovakia, and in the Carpat ...

also known as Gerlach, the highest mountain peak in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Personal name

Surname

Place

See also