Gareld
Masculine Scandinavian name possibly derived from "gar" (spear) and "eld" (fire).
Name Census estimates that about 80 living Americans carry the first name Gareld. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gareld today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gareld births was 1935 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gareld. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Gareld is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Garelds were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gareld. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
80
~ 1 in 4,284,429 Americans
Peak year
1935
11 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1968 SSA rank
#4,338
Tracked since 1913
Census
Gareld in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 167 people with the first name Gareld, which placed it at #42,759 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#42,759
National first-name rank
People counted
167
167 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gareld
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gareld is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Hispanic (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gareld described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gareld at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.4% · 146
- Black or African American3.6% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 4
- Two or more races2.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Gareld: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gareld from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 73 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gareld by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gareld during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gareld
The name Gareld has its origins in the Old French language, likely emerging during the Middle Ages around the 12th or 13th century. It is believed to be a variant or diminutive form of the name Gerald, which itself derives from the Germanic elements "gair" (spear) and "wald" (rule or power). The name Gareld would have initially been used among the French-speaking nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gareld can be found in the 14th century writings of the English philosopher and theologian, William of Ockham. In his texts, he makes reference to a Gareld of Cambrai, a French nobleman and knight from the region of Cambrai in northern France. This suggests the name was in use by the early 1300s, at least among certain social circles.
During the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance period, the name Gareld appeared sporadically in various historical records and chronicles across parts of France, England, and the Low Countries. Notable individuals with this name include Gareld de Montfort, a French knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War (born c. 1395), and Gareld van Arnhem, a Dutch merchant and voyager who traveled to the East Indies in the late 15th century (born c. 1467).
As the use of surnames became more widespread, the name Gareld transitioned from a given name to a family name in some cases. One example is the English Gareld family, who traced their lineage back to a Gareld de Beaumont, a Norman knight who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. Sir John Gareld (born c. 1320) was a member of this family and served as a military commander during the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, a Gareld Mercator (born c. 1512) was a renowned Flemish cartographer and geographer, credited with creating the Mercator projection, a cylindrical map projection that became widely used for navigation and charting. His innovative work had a significant impact on the field of cartography and mapmaking.
While the name Gareld has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, it has left a lasting legacy through its historical bearers and as a reminder of the cultural influences that have shaped the development of personal names over the centuries.
People
Gareld + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gareld as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gareld: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gareld?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 80 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gareld going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,284,429 US residents.
Is Gareld a common name?
We classify Gareld as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 243 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gareld most popular?
The single biggest year for Gareld was 1935, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gareld is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gareld in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 167 people with the name Gareld, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,759 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gareld in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gareld?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gareld leans strongly male. 164 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gareld?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gareld is White at 87.4%. The next largest groups are Black (3.6%) and Hispanic (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gareld most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gareld in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.4% (146 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gareld in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gareld a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gareld in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gareld still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gareld in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gareld can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Gareld?
Want to know how many people have the name Gareld? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.