Find out how popular the first name Geraldine has been for the last 50 years (from 1974 to 2023) and learn more about the meaning and history.

Popularity of Geraldine by gender

Based on the last 50 years of data, Geraldine is more commonly used as a female name, with approximately 100% of people named Geraldine being female.

For the most recent data in 2023, there were 131 female babies and 0 male babies born with the name Geraldine.

The history of the first name Geraldine

The name Geraldine is a feminine form of the masculine name Gerald, which is derived from the Germanic elements ger meaning "spear" and wald meaning "rule". It is believed to have originated in the medieval English regions during the 12th century.

The name Geraldine was popularized in England and France during the Middle Ages, where it was often used among nobility and aristocratic families. It is thought to have been influenced by the Old French name Geraud, which shared a similar linguistic root.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Geraldine can be found in the 13th century romance poem "Roman de la Rose" by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, where a character named Geraldine is mentioned.

Geraldine is also the name of a character in Edmund Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene", published in 1590. This literary work helped to further popularize the name during the Renaissance period.

In the 16th century, Geraldine Disires (c. 1535 - c. 1570) was a French poet and author, known for her work "La Guerre des Masles contre les Femelles" (The War of the Males against the Females).

Another notable historical figure was Geraldine Jewsbury (1812 - 1880), an English novelist and literary critic who was a close friend of the Brontë sisters.

During the early 20th century, Geraldine Farrar (1882 - 1967) was an American operatic soprano who performed leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Geraldine Brooks (born 1955) is an Australian-American novelist and journalist, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "March" in 2006.

Geraldine Ferraro (1935 - 2011) was an American politician and lawyer who made history in 1984 as the first female vice-presidential candidate representing a major political party in the United States.

Data source

The first name data used on this page comes from the Social Security Administration (SSA). They've been collecting data on baby names since 1880.

The history and meaning of the name Geraldine was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Geraldine, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!