Gildardo
Masculine · “brave in tribute”
Gildardo is a Frankish name that ended up almost entirely in Latin America. Its two halves are the standard building blocks of early Germanic naming, the sort of pairing that produced Richard and Bernard, and its shape in Spanish is so comfortable that nothing about it announces a northern origin. It is an old name wearing an entirely ordinary coat.
How old is the name Gildardo?
Gildardo first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Gildardo alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 1,000 people named Gildardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gildardo most popular?
Gildardo peaked in 1975, reaching #1948 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 10,060 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gildhard to Gildardo
The story of Gildardo
The name is on record in Frankish Gaul, where a bishop of Rouen carried it in the sixth century and kept it in French church calendars long after the Frankish kingdoms themselves were gone. In France it wore down to Godard and then largely stopped being a first name. In Spanish it kept its full shape, crossed the Atlantic with the church, and settled — Colombia and Mexico are where it lives now, and where nearly every American Gildardo has family. It is a good example of a name that survives not where it was born but wherever it was carried last.
Meaningscholars disagree
brave in tribute, or hardy pledge
The second element is not in dispute: Germanic hard, meaning hardy, firm or brave, the same one that closes Richard, Bernard and Eberhard. The first is read two ways. One takes it as gild, a payment, offering or tribute — the word that also gives English guild. The other takes it as gisl, a pledge or hostage, the element that opens Gilbert. Nothing in the record settles which is behind this name.
How the name formed
- Gildhard
- Gildardus
- Gildard
- Gildardo
Related forms: Gildard · Gildardo · Gildhard · Gildardus
Pronouncing Gildardo
heel-DAR-doh
In Spanish the g before i is a throat sound like an English h, and the stress falls on the second syllable. English speakers reading it cold usually produce gil-DAR-doh with a hard g, which is close enough to be understood and far enough to be corrected.
Nicknames for Gildardo
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
- 1927
- Most boys named
- 199834 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1948reached in 1975
- Change vs 2023
- −37.5%5 in 2025, from 8
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.
Gildardo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gildard in French — same name
- Gildardo in Portuguese — same name
- Gildhard in German — related form
- Gildardus in Latin — same name
Gildardos among us
people named Gildardo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Gildardo
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 Arlee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gildardo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arlee climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arlee's path sketches the road Gildardo is walking now.
Gildardo 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
Gildardo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gildardo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a documented line back to early medieval Europe, which is unusual for a name this rare in the United States.
- Gil is short, established and instantly usable in either language.
- Spanish spelling and Spanish sound match here exactly, so within Spanish-speaking families it is never misspelled.
- Outside Spanish-speaking circles the first g will be read hard, and the name will arrive slightly wrong every time.
- It is close to Gilberto, Gerardo and Eduardo in sound, and mail will confuse them.
- Its meaning cannot be given cleanly, which disappoints anyone who wants a single line to tell relatives.
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What they receive
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Gildardo
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gildardos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Gildardo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gildardo in 2025?
- Gildardo ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gildardo?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Gildardo — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gildardo with classmates?
- Gildardo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gildardo
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 Gildardo? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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