Garrett

Garrett is a boy's name of both German and Irish origin. It came about from two first names, Gerard and Gerald, which were created during the Dark Ages. Those were economic hard times, so to foster a sense of well-being, names that seemed powerful were popular. Garrett is an Irish version of Gerard, which has the components gari, meaning "spear" and “hard,” implying bravery.

I'm 53, for 18 years I did not see, meet, or hear of another Garrett. My parents gave me the name because it was unique and we had a very common last name, my dad found it in a very old baby name book which assigned attributes of strength, safety, security and intelligence as being associated with the name. Through the 1st-3rd grade, people tried to tell me I got my name wrong and many thought it was a last name, not a first. Up until my 20's I still had people assuming my name was something else, Erick, Derrick, Jarrod, etc... As I grew up with it I was disappointed that I could not get merchandise with my name on it. I began to study it in the 60's and found it only in the oldest books at that time. The name came from Old English,and it got there from Old Norse. The name, according to the books at that time, meant "A mighty warrior with a spear." From what I learned, Garretts guarded Garrisons, they were the Spartans of their time. In Castles the safety and security of the castle was in the "Keep." Above the Keep was a room known as "The Garrett" it was a store house of spears and weapons. From the purpose of the castle's Garrett, the name became synonymous with safety, protection and security. In French the name became the name of an attic. When castles were about to fall, the people would run to the Garrett, as it was the very last room to fall. Not all castles had Garretts. There is some connection to a castle known as "Castle Garrett" it was the castle's owner's surname and it has a Garrett above the keep. I have not found what that connection is. I have found 10 variations of the spelling. So a castle was only as strong as the Keep and the Garrett kept the Keep. In the later 70's I began traveling frequently and my mother had custom Tee-shirts made for me with my name. As I checked in at airports, hotels and made reservations over the phone I had a lot of compliments on my name, some women said they would like to use the name for their son one day, because the name sounded "strong". I would tell them where the name came from and what it meant. In the 80's the name became popular and continued to rise in popularity. Today there are more than 1,000 men with the same first name and last name on Facebook. I kind of miss the old days when the name was unique. Today there is a new definition for Garrett: it's "rule by spear". This is not what the older books all had and it's only shown up recently and I do not think it's correct.

Meaning - to watch; man with spear; a watchtower.

I have a friend who bears the surname Garrett. I have searched for the meaning through many different sources and only once have I been told that it means "to watch". All my other sources have refered to it as "Brave Spear" or "Bold Spear".