The Sørlandsbanen railway line passes through the village and stops at Gjerstad Station.

[1] Gjerstad Church is located in the village along with a school and several stores.

One explanation of the name says that the first element is the genitive case of the male name Geirrekr and the last element is staðir which means "homestead" or "farm".

[4][5] Another possibly explanation of the first part of the name says that it comes from the word geirr which means "spear".

Historically, the name has been spelled Gerikstadum (c. 1400), Gierestat (c. 1567), Gierrestad, and Gjerrestad.