Jearld
Masculine · “spear rule”
Jearld is Gerald written the way it sounds, with the J that the soft G already says and the vowel spelled like earl. The name belongs to a president who was not born with it.
How old is the name Jearld?
Jearld first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Jearld alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 300 people named Jearld are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jearld most popular?
Jearld peaked in 1941, reaching #1230 nationally. See the whole 1941 chart.
Where it comes from
From Gerwald to Jearld
The story of Jearld
The thirty-eighth president was born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; his mother left his father within weeks and later married Gerald Ford, a Grand Rapids paint salesman, and the boy grew up as Gerald Ford Jr. and legally took the name as a young man. Gerald had come to England with the Normans. Jearld writes it as it is spoken, and nothing records who first chose the spelling.
Meaning
spear rule, through Gerald
From Gerald, the Germanic Gerwald, joining ger, spear, and wald, rule. Jearld is a spelling of it by ear.
How the name formed
- Gerwald
- Gerald
- Jearld
Related forms: Géraud · Gerald
Pronouncing Jearld
JAIR-uld
Two syllables, stressed on the first, like Gerald.
Nicknames for Jearld
Limited
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
- 1920
- Most boys named
- 194129 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1230reached in 1941
- Change vs 1974
- +20.0%6 in 1983, 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.
Jearld in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Géraud in French — related form
- Gerald in English — spelling variant
Jearlds among us
people named Jearld 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
Jearld 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
- It sounds exactly like a familiar name.
- Jerry is a ready short form.
- People will write Gerald, and the spelling will need explaining.
- Some may read it in one syllable, as JURLD.
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Jearld
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Jearlds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Jearld are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jearld in 2025?
- Jearld is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Jearld with classmates?
- Jearld will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
James#6 · John#23 · Joseph#29 · Joshua#66 · Jason#165 · Jacob#43 · Jeffrey#552 · Jonathan#89
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jearld? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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