Find out how popular the last name Geraldo is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Geraldo.

Geraldo, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Geraldo surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Geraldo in America

Geraldo is the 40016th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Geraldo surname appeared 548 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Geraldo.

We can also compare 2010 data for Geraldo to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Geraldo

The surname Geraldo originates from Portugal, and it is believed to have first appeared in the 12th century. It is derived from the Germanic personal name Gerard, which means "spear-brave" or "hardy with the spear." The name was brought to Portugal by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled a significant part of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Geraldo can be found in the "Livro Velho das Linhagens" (Old Book of Lineages), a 14th-century Portuguese manuscript that chronicles the genealogies of noble families. The manuscript mentions a Geraldo Moniz, who lived in the 12th century and was a prominent figure in the court of King Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal.

Another notable historical figure with the surname Geraldo was Geraldo Sempavor, also known as Geraldo the Fearless, who was a Portuguese knight and military commander during the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors in the 12th and 13th centuries. Geraldo Sempavor was born in the late 12th century and died in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578.

In the 16th century, Geraldo Fernandes, a Portuguese explorer and navigator, was involved in the early exploration and colonization of Brazil. He is credited with leading one of the first expeditions to explore the interior of Brazil in the 1550s.

In the 18th century, Geraldo Venceslau Branco de Paiva Muniz Barreto, a Portuguese nobleman and military officer, served as the Governor of Mozambique from 1770 to 1773. He was born in Lisbon in 1722 and died in 1796.

Another notable figure with the surname Geraldo was Geraldo Majela Fernandes, a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and co-founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Pious Schools. He was born in 1859 in the town of Franca, Brazil, and died in 1912.

Throughout its history, the surname Geraldo has been associated with various locations and place names in Portugal, such as the town of Geraldo in the district of Castelo Branco, and the parish of Geraldo in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Geraldo

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Geraldo.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Geraldo was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Geraldo has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

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

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

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