Garrett peaked in 2000 and has been declining since — current rank #562, with 135,222 total SSA bearers accumulated over decades of consistent use. That total is substantial, which means every millennial class had multiple Garretts. The name is now at the age where it's a dad name without being a grandpa name, and that in-between period is its toughest stretch.
Germanic Spear-Wielder
Garrett traces to the Germanic name Gerard, from ger (spear) + hard (brave, strong). It arrived in England via the Normans and evolved through Garrard and Garret to the modern Garrett. The Germanic lineage puts it in the company of names like Gerald, Gerard, and Gerardo — a family of names that shared peak popularity across different ethnic communities in the 20th century. Garrett became the Anglicized favorite; Gerardo served Spanish-speaking communities with the same root.
Pat Garrett and the Western Register
Pat Garrett — the sheriff who killed Billy the Kid in 1881 — attached a particular American Western flavor to this name that has never fully detached. That's not necessarily bad: names with frontier associations carry a certain rugged quality. More recently, Garrett Hedlund and Garrett Watts offered contemporary bearers in entertainment. The double-T spelling is standard; single-T Garret appears occasionally but is less common in SSA data.
The Dad-Name Window
The cycle of name ages runs roughly: baby name, young-adult name, dad name, grandpa name, revival. Garrett is deep in the dad-name phase right now : common enough among 35-45-year-olds that a baby Garrett will likely have a Garrett on the parent pickup line. That's not disqualifying, but it's worth acknowledging. Parents who want the Germanic sound without the dad-name burden might look at Griffin or Graham for a different entry point into the same phonetic territory. The early-2000s feel is real here.