Herold
Masculine · “A spelling of Harold”
Herold is a spelling of Harold, the old Germanic 'army ruler', from the end of the nineteenth century. The name hides in every wireless headphone, and it belonged to the silent-film comic who dangled from a clock above a city street.
How old is the name Herold?
Herold first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Herold alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 100 people named Herold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Herold most popular?
Herold peaked in 1894, reaching #1074 nationally. See the whole 1894 chart.
Where it comes from
From Hereweald to Herold
The story of Herold
Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark in the tenth century, united rival Danish tribes and brought Christianity to the country; in 1997 engineers working on a short-range radio standard to unite rival devices borrowed his nickname, and the Bluetooth logo is a bind-rune of his initials. In 1923 Harold Lloyd, the bespectacled silent comic, hung from the hands of a clock high above a Los Angeles street in Safety Last!, one of the most famous images in film. Herold was a spelling of Harold given at the end of the nineteenth century.
Meaning
A spelling of Harold, 'army ruler'
From Old English Hereweald and Old Norse Haraldr, from the words for 'army' and 'ruler'.
How the name formed
- Hereweald
- Harold
- Herold
Related forms: Harold · Harald · Aroldo
Pronouncing Herold
HAIR-uld
Two syllables with the stress on the first, like Harold.
Nicknames for Herold
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
- 1894
- Most boys named
- 191624 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1074reached in 1894
- Change vs 1997
- 0.0%5 in 1999, 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.
Herold in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Harold in English — spelling variant
- Harald in Danish — same name
- Aroldo in Italian — same name
Herolds among us
people named Herold 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
Herold 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
- Sounds like Harold, a name everyone knows.
- A settled Germanic meaning.
- Comes with Hal as a ready short form.
- Almost everyone will write Harold.
- It reads as a nineteenth-century name.
- It looks like the word herald, which some will mention.
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Herold
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Herolds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Herold are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Herold in 2025?
- Herold is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Herold with classmates?
- Herold will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Herold? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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