Fitzgerald
Masculine · “son of Gerald”
Fitzgerald is son of Gerald in Norman French — fitz, from filius — and the FitzGeralds became more Irish than the Irish.
How old is the name Fitzgerald?
Fitzgerald first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Fitzgerald alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,800 people named Fitzgerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Fitzgerald most popular?
Fitzgerald peaked in 1964, reaching #689 nationally. Today it ranks #2421, 1,732 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From filius to Fitzgerald
The story of Fitzgerald
The FitzGeralds arrived with the Norman invasion of Ireland and became, in the standard phrase, more Irish than the Irish themselves — adopting the language, the law and the poetry until English governments legislated against it. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ella Fitzgerald carried the surname. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
son of Gerald
From the Norman French fitz, 'son', from the Latin filius, plus Gerald, from the Germanic ger, 'spear', and wald, 'rule'. The fitz- prefix marks Norman families in Ireland and, later, royal bastards. The construction is documented.
How the name formed
- filius
- fitz Gerald
- Fitzgerald
Related forms: Mac Gearailt · FitzGerald
Pronouncing Fitzgerald
fits-JER-uld
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Said identically in every English accent.
Nicknames for Fitzgerald
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 1964125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #689reached in 1964
- Change vs 2024
- −12.5%56 in 2025, from 64
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Fitzgerald in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mac Gearailt in Irish — related form
- FitzGerald in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan, Ohio.
Fitzgeralds among us
people named Fitzgerald are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 30,501 born in 2025 was named Fitzgerald
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wyman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Fitzgerald's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wyman climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wyman's path sketches the road Fitzgerald is walking now.
Fitzgerald sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Fitzgerald is headed
Fitzgerald should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Fitzgerald beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Fitzgerald in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the FitzGeralds became more Irish than the Irish is a first-rate history.
- Fitz and Gerald are two short forms, both real names in their own right.
- The spear-rule meaning behind Gerald is transparent and strong.
- It reads unmistakably as a surname.
- Three syllables make it long for everyday use.
- The fitz- prefix later marked royal illegitimacy in England.
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What they receive
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Fitzgerald
Masculine · #2421 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Fitzgeralds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Fitzgerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Fitzgerald in 2025?
- Fitzgerald ranks #2421 among US boy names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Fitzgerald?
- About 1 in every 30,501 US boys born in 2025 was named Fitzgerald — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Fitzgerald with classmates?
- Fitzgerald will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Fitzgerald
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pranav#2421 · Darnell#2421 · Jin#2421 · Idrees#2421 · Woodson#2421 · Rahmir#2421 · Domenico#2421 · Amelio#2421
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Fitzgerald? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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