Geraldo
Masculine · “ruling with the spear”
Geraldo is Gerald given a Spanish and Portuguese ending, and the difference is larger than one letter. The added vowel moves the weight to the middle of the name and opens the sound out, so what is clipped and consonantal in English becomes rounded and unhurried. Underneath sits one of the oldest Germanic naming formulas there is: a weapon and a word for rule.
How old is the name Geraldo?
Geraldo first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Geraldo alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 2,200 people named Geraldo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Geraldo most popular?
Geraldo peaked in 1988, reaching #890 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,118 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gerwald to Geraldo
The story of Geraldo
Germanic names arrived in Iberia twice over: first with the Visigoths, who ruled Spain for three centuries, and again with the Frankish and Norman knights who came south in the Middle Ages. Most faded, but a handful were absorbed into Spanish and Portuguese so completely that nothing about them sounds foreign anymore, and Geraldo is one. Latin documents wrote it Geraldus; the vernacular took the ending it gives every man's name and made it Geraldo. The same root traveled to Ireland with the Norman FitzGeralds, where it became Gearóid, and to England as Gerald.
Meaning
ruling with the spear
From the Germanic elements ger, a spear, and wald, rule or power. Gerard is a close cousin rather than the same name — its second element is hard, meaning brave or hardy — and the two have been confused in records for a thousand years.
How the name formed
- Gerwald
- Geraldus
- Gerald
- Geraldo
Related forms: Gerald · Gearóid · Giraldo · Géraud · Gerwald
Pronouncing Geraldo
heh-RAHL-doh
In Spanish the g before e is a throat sound close to an English h, and the stress falls on the middle syllable. English speakers usually say juh-RAL-doh with a soft j instead. Both are in daily use in the United States, often for the same person in different rooms.
Nicknames for Geraldo
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
- 1948
- Most boys named
- 1989101 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #890reached in 1988
- Change vs 2023
- −50.0%5 in 2025, from 10
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.
Geraldo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gerald in English — same name
- Gearóid in Irish — same name
- Giraldo in Italian — spelling variant
- Géraud in French — related form
- Gerwald in German — related form
Geraldos among us
people named Geraldo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Geraldo
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 Roderic test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Geraldo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roderic climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roderic's path sketches the road Geraldo is walking now.
Geraldo 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
Geraldo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Geraldo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It crosses English and Spanish without a change of spelling, which very few names manage.
- The record behind it is long and unbroken, running back through medieval Latin to the Germanic kingdoms.
- It has a settled short form in Spanish and a ready English one, so a boy is not stuck with four syllables.
- Gerald sits close enough that no one has to be taught the name from scratch.
- Two pronunciations follow it everywhere, and a child will spend some energy deciding which one to offer to whom.
- In the United States one broadcaster has carried the name in public for decades, and adults of a certain age may hear him first.
- Written forms will offer Gerald or Geraldo interchangeably, and mail will arrive addressed to both.
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What they receive
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Geraldo
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Geraldos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Geraldo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Geraldo in 2025?
- Geraldo ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Geraldo?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Geraldo — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Geraldo with classmates?
- Geraldo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Geraldo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Geraldo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Geraldo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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