Gearld
Gearld is a variant spelling of the masculine given name Gerald meaning "ruler with the spear".
Name Census estimates that about 2,189 living Americans carry the first name Gearld. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gearld today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gearld births was 1941 (146 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gearld. 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 Gearld is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gearlds were born before 1964.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 156,580 Americans
Peak year
1941
146 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1988 SSA rank
#4,271
Tracked since 1914
Census
Gearld in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 722 people with the first name Gearld, which placed it at #15,811 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
#15,811
National first-name rank
People counted
722
722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gearld
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gearld is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Gearld 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 Gearld at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.3% · 529
- Black or African American20.2% · 146
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 19
- Two or more races2.5% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Gearld
Out of the 4,286 babies given the name Gearld since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Gearld as a male name
- Ranked #4,271 in 1988
- 11 male births in 1988
- Peak: 1941 (146 births)
Gearld as a female name
- Ranked #6,681 in 1960
- 5 female births in 1960
- Peak: 1960 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gearld appears almost entirely male. Of the 715 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Gearld: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gearld from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 1,107 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gearld 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 Gearld during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gearlds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Texas, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Gearld, while South Carolina, Minnesota, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gearld
The given name Gearld is a variant spelling of the more common name Gerald, which has its origins in the Germanic languages. It is derived from the Old German words "ger" meaning "spear" and "waltan" meaning "to rule" or "to wield." Together, these root words combine to form the meaning "ruler of the spear" or "spear-ruler."
The name first appeared in its original Germanic form during the Middle Ages, around the 8th to 10th centuries. It was particularly popular among the Frankish and Visigothic nobility, reflecting the warrior culture of that era. The name was likely introduced to Britain during the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, where it gained widespread use.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book lists several individuals with the name Gerald, indicating its presence in medieval England.
Throughout history, the name Gearld (or its more common spelling, Gerald) has been borne by several notable figures. One of the earliest was Gerald of Wales, a medieval chronicler and historian who lived from around 1146 to 1223. He is known for his writings on the conquest of Ireland and his descriptions of Welsh culture.
Another prominent figure was Gerald, Count of Aurillac, a French nobleman who lived from around 855 to 909. He was known for his piety and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
In the 16th century, Gerard Mercator, a Flemish cartographer and geographer (1512-1594), made significant contributions to the field of mapmaking and is credited with creating the Mercator projection, which is still used in navigation today.
In the literary world, Gerald Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was an influential English poet and Jesuit priest, known for his innovative use of language and pioneering of the modern style of poetry.
More recently, Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) served as the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977, taking office after the resignation of Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
While the name Gearld is a less common variant, it shares the rich history and heritage of its more widely used counterpart, Gerald, reflecting its Germanic origins and the influence of various cultures throughout the centuries.
People
Gearld + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gearld 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
Gearld: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gearld?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,189 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gearld 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 156,580 US residents.
Is Gearld a common name?
We classify Gearld as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gearld most popular?
The single biggest year for Gearld was 1941, when 146 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gearld is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gearld in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 722 people with the name Gearld, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,811 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 Gearld 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 Gearld?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gearld appears almost entirely male. Of the 715 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Gearld?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gearld is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Gearld most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gearld in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (529 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 Gearld in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gearld a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Gearld 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 Gearld still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gearld 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 Gearld 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 Gearld?
Want to know how many people have the name Gearld? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.