Gilberto
Masculine · “bright pledge”
Gilberto is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 28,642 boys against 58 girls since 1880.
Gilberto is the Spanish and Italian of Gilbert, and the Germanic behind it is bright pledge — a hostage given as surety, which is what the first element originally meant.
How old is the name Gilberto?
Gilberto first appears in US birth records in 1903 — 122 years ago. The typical Gilberto alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 23,500 people named Gilberto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gilberto most popular?
Gilberto peaked in 1981, reaching #383 nationally. Today it ranks #1520, 1,137 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Gilberto appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From gisil beraht to Gilberto
The story of Gilberto
Gislebert came to England with the Normans and became Gilbert; Gilbert of Sempringham founded the only medieval religious order of English origin. Spanish and Italian made Gilberto, and it became an ordinary name across Latin America. Spanish-speaking families brought it to the United States, where it appears steadily through the twentieth century.
Meaning
bright pledge
From the Germanic gisil, 'pledge' or 'hostage', and beraht, 'bright' or 'famous'. Hostage-giving was a formal instrument of medieval diplomacy rather than a crime, and gisil appears in many names. Both elements are ordinary and the compound is undisputed.
How the name formed
- gisil beraht
- Gislebert
- Gilbert
- Gilberto
Related forms: Gilberto · Gilberto · Gilberto · Gilbert
Pronouncing Gilberto
heel-BER-toh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Spanish gives the g an h sound; Italian says jeel-BER-toh with a soft g.
Nicknames for Gilberto
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
- 1903
- Most boys named
- 1993559 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #383reached in 1981
- Change vs 2023
- +7.5%114 in 2025, from 106
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.
Gilberto in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gilberto in Spanish — same name
- Gilberto in Italian — same name
- Gilberto in Portuguese — same name
- Gilbert in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Gilbertos among us
people named Gilberto are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,983 born in 2025 was named Gilberto
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 Palmer test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gilberto's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Palmer climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Palmer's path sketches the road Gilberto is walking now.
Gilberto 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 Gilberto is headed
Gilberto should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Gilberto beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gilberto in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The bright-pledge meaning is transparent and the hostage custom behind it is genuinely interesting.
- Gil and Beto are two short forms at very different registers.
- It is standard across Spanish, Italian and Portuguese without change.
- The initial consonant differs between the Spanish and Italian readings.
- English speakers will default to a hard g.
- Gilbert is the form English speakers will assume.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Gilberto
Masculine · #1520 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gilbertos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 23,500 people named Gilberto are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gilberto in 2025?
- Gilberto ranks #1520 among US boy names in 2025, with 114 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gilberto?
- About 1 in every 14,983 US boys born in 2025 was named Gilberto — 114 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gilberto with classmates?
- Gilberto will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gilberto
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zakaria#1520 · Summit#1520 · Karmelo#1520 · Barry#1520 · Maxim#1520 · Kallum#1520 · Tymir#1520 · Montana#1520
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gilberto? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gilberto and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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