Gerold
Gerold was last recorded in 2002, when 8 babies were given it; 2,966 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 2002 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,380 Americans named Gerold and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (47% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 56 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gerold by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gerold mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Gerold is “a male given name, variant of Gerald”
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gerold?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #7,889, in 2002; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
90 babies in 1939, the peak
Gerold peaked in 1939, when 90 boys were given it, #614 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 8 | #7,889 | 4.1 |
| 2001 | 6 | #9,676 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,474 | 2.6 |
| 1998 | 7 | #7,859 | 3.7 |
| 1995 | 7 | #7,262 | 3.7 |
| 1994 | 5 | #9,304 | 2.6 |
| 1993 | 8 | #6,415 | 4.1 |
| 1992 | 5 | #8,882 | 2.5 |
| 1991 | 7 | #6,776 | 3.5 |
| 1990 | 12 | #4,492 | 5.8 |
Every recorded year (88)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 7 | #6,458 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 15 | #3,407 | 7.8 |
| 1987 | 14 | #3,397 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 14 | #3,319 | 7.6 |
| 1985 | 8 | #4,846 | 4.3 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,327 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 10 | #3,965 | 5.6 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,350 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 13 | #3,285 | 7.3 |
| 1980 | 18 | #2,652 | 10.1 |
| 1979 | 14 | #3,057 | 8.1 |
| 1978 | 9 | #3,963 | 5.5 |
| 1977 | 22 | #2,147 | 13.4 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,147 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,515 | 6.4 |
| 1974 | 23 | #1,947 | 14.6 |
| 1973 | 23 | #1,898 | 14.8 |
| 1972 | 17 | #2,273 | 10.5 |
| 1971 | 21 | #2,003 | 11.9 |
| 1970 | 37 | #1,381 | 19.9 |
| 1969 | 27 | #1,579 | 15.1 |
| 1968 | 23 | #1,658 | 13.2 |
| 1967 | 35 | #1,277 | 20.1 |
| 1966 | 31 | #1,380 | 17.4 |
| 1965 | 42 | #1,173 | 22.6 |
| 1964 | 36 | #1,318 | 18.1 |
| 1963 | 43 | #1,184 | 21.2 |
| 1962 | 37 | #1,284 | 17.9 |
| 1961 | 43 | #1,213 | 20.2 |
| 1960 | 45 | #1,168 | 21.1 |
| 1959 | 49 | #1,104 | 23.0 |
| 1958 | 48 | #1,104 | 22.6 |
| 1957 | 54 | #1,033 | 25.0 |
| 1956 | 67 | #911 | 31.7 |
| 1955 | 50 | #1,067 | 24.3 |
| 1954 | 61 | #946 | 29.9 |
| 1953 | 65 | #890 | 33.0 |
| 1952 | 61 | #909 | 31.4 |
| 1951 | 66 | #860 | 35.1 |
| 1950 | 56 | #923 | 31.3 |
| 1949 | 75 | #793 | 42.3 |
| 1948 | 64 | #857 | 36.5 |
| 1947 | 59 | #908 | 32.2 |
| 1946 | 68 | #808 | 41.9 |
| 1945 | 67 | #749 | 49.8 |
| 1944 | 60 | #811 | 44.0 |
| 1943 | 63 | #832 | 44.1 |
| 1942 | 79 | #724 | 57.2 |
| 1941 | 75 | #715 | 61.1 |
| 1940 | 53 | #865 | 45.7 |
| 1939 | 90 | #614 | 81.3 |
| 1938 | 75 | #706 | 67.6 |
| 1937 | 58 | #810 | 54.4 |
| 1936 | 49 | #876 | 47.2 |
| 1935 | 52 | #875 | 49.9 |
| 1934 | 61 | #795 | 59.1 |
| 1933 | 53 | #854 | 53.5 |
| 1932 | 60 | #826 | 57.5 |
| 1931 | 32 | #1,224 | 30.8 |
| 1930 | 55 | #900 | 50.1 |
| 1929 | 36 | #1,164 | 33.5 |
| 1928 | 36 | #1,196 | 32.5 |
| 1927 | 38 | #1,166 | 33.7 |
| 1926 | 33 | #1,266 | 29.7 |
| 1925 | 32 | #1,288 | 28.7 |
| 1924 | 20 | #1,800 | 17.7 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,565 | 21.9 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,668 | 20.2 |
| 1921 | 30 | #1,374 | 27.2 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,914 | 16.9 |
| 1919 | 24 | #1,500 | 24.5 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,202 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 17 | #1,846 | 18.4 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,881 | 18.0 |
| 1915 | 13 | #2,100 | 15.3 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,049 | 9.2 |
| 1913 | 17 | #1,279 | 33.2 |
| 1912 | 8 | #1,945 | 18.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Gerold a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gerold has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 88 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gerold: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gerold, and how old are they?
1,380 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 47% of the 2,966 Americans ever recorded as Gerold. The median Gerold alive today is 68 years old; half are between 56 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 1,336 people named Gerold (9 women and girls, 1,327 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,667 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 227 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 674 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 317 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 135 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 25 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Gerold born?
The states with the most babies named Gerold are Illinois, Michigan and California, with 56% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 112 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 98 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| California | 94 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Wisconsin | 94 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 51 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Minnesota | 32 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Kansas | 13 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Tennessee | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Georgia | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Kentucky | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Gerold with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 459,107 babies since 1880, Gerold is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 168 babies recorded by SSA was a Gerold (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Gerold
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Gerold and names like it
- Compare Gerold and GeraldBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sGerold peaked in 1939.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gerold since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Gerold: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1939The year the most babies were named Gerold.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gerold alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.