Gerilyn
Feminine
Gerilyn joins a man's familiar form to the ending American naming attached to almost everything in the middle of the last century. The Germanic name underneath it produced an Irish dynasty whose surname says, in French, exactly what it is.
How old is the name Gerilyn?
Gerilyn first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Gerilyn alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 600 people named Gerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gerilyn most popular?
Gerilyn peaked in 1959, reaching #1951 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Gerilyn
The Fitzgeralds are named in French: fitz is the Norman form of fils, son, and the surname means nothing more than the son of Gerald. The family came to Ireland with the twelfth-century invasion, were granted enormous estates, and then did what the Anglo-Norman settlers generally did — married into Irish families, took Irish fosterage arrangements, patronized Irish poets and spoke the language. Within a few generations the English crown was legislating against them: the Statutes of Kilkenny forbade the settlers to use Irish names, Irish dress, Irish law or the Irish language, on the explicit ground that they had become indistinguishable from the people they were supposed to be governing. The phrase that stuck to them afterwards was that they had become more Irish than the Irish themselves. The legislation did not work.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The front is a familiar form of Gerald or Geraldine, which join Germanic words for a spear and for rule. The ending is a free American element with no content. What a family meant by the combination is not recorded, and the compound has no source of its own.
Pronouncing Gerilyn
JEHR-uh-lin
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The g is soft before an e, which is the one thing an English reader might hesitate over and almost never does.
Nicknames for Gerilyn
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 195933 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1951reached in 1959
- Change vs 1996
- +40.0%7 in 2001, from 5
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.
Gerilyns among us
people named Gerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Gerilyn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Geri detaches cleanly and is a complete name.
- Front stress on three syllables is a comfortable English rhythm.
- The spelling is phonetic and survives being heard once.
- Geralyn, Jerilyn and Gerylin are all recorded and will be written for it.
- The ending places the name in a particular stretch of American fashion.
- Neither half carries a meaning here, so the origin question has a short answer.
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Gerilyn
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Gerilyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Gerilyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gerilyn in 2025?
- Gerilyn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Gerilyn with classmates?
- Gerilyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
Grace#38 · Gloria#654 · Gladys#3211 · Geraldine#2438 · Gail#8362 · Gertrude#6546 · Georgia#99 · Gina#2076
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gerilyn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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