Could cute nickname Gertie, remembered as cute five-year-old Drew Barrymore in E.T., revive the long shunned Gertrude?
It's tempting to dismiss Gertrude as a name on its way through the door marked Out Forever, except that its long and honorable pedigree--as a goddess in Norse mythology, as the gentle and mystical Saint Gertrude the Great, and another St. Gertrude who is the patron of cats, and its use by Shakespeare for Hamlet's (not exactly exemplary) mother--earns it a place on the permanent roster. It has also been borne by such varied figures as writer Gertrude Stein, swimming champ Gertrude Ederle, British stage star Gertrude Lawrence, and arts patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.
The pinnacle of fashion a century ago, Gertrude reached as high as Number 23 in 1900, but dropped off the list completely in 1966.
