Family name origins & meanings
- Americanized spelling of German Gernot(h), from a Germanic personal name composed of a cognate of Old High German gēr ‘spear’ + knōt- ‘(to) swing’.
- Alternatively, an Americanized spelling of Swiss German Gernet, which is either a variant of Gernot(h) (see 1 above) or a derivative of Middle High German gern ‘to desire’, a component of various Germanic personal names such as Gernhard.