Gerald
Gerald is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 178 births. Its best rank was 19th, in 1936, 1938–1939.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1780.01% of boys
- Peak year
- 194211,483 births
- Best rank
- #19first in 1936
- Since 1880
- 451,178people given the name
The story in the numbers
448,793 boys have been named Gerald in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1942, with 11,483 births — 0.83% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 178 births in 2024, against 11,483 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1947, and the 1940s alone account for 23%. It has spent 141 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 63 of them in the top 100.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,385 girls have also been given it, 0.53% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Gerald | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 223 | |
| 1890s | 753 | |
| 1900s | 2,014 | |
| 1910s | 16,522 | |
| 1920s | 44,521 | |
| 1930s | 82,818 | |
| 1940s | 103,342 | |
| 1950s | 82,625 | |
| 1960s | 55,300 | |
| 1970s | 26,149 | |
| 1980s | 15,509 | |
| 1990s | 9,797 | |
| 2000s | 5,146 | |
| 2010s | 3,031 | |
| 2020s | 1,043 |
In 1942, its biggest year
Gerald was the 22nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1942 were James, Robert, John, William and Richard. See all of 1942.
Names that rose and fell with Gerald
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Geroldpeak 1939
- Donpeak 1946
- Freddiepeak 1947
- Bennypeak 1948
- Gearldpeak 1941
- Jerepeak 1941
- Genepeak 1937
- Buddypeak 1935
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.