the.com/gentry

means The class of people just below nobility, typically landed and well-off, who had social status without a title.

from From Middle English 'gentrie,' tangled up with Old French 'genterise' and 'gentillise,' all rooted in Latin 'gens' meaning clan or family stock — the same root that gives us 'gentle,' 'gentile,' and 'genteel.' The core idea was always birth and bloodline: being 'well-born' into a family that counted. Over time the word drifted from pure lineage toward anyone with the land, money, and manners to pass as well-born — which is why it now so easily describes people whose only real pedigree is a good real estate agent.