Garald
Masculine Medieval name derived from Germanic elements meaning "spear" and "rule".
Name Census estimates that about 233 living Americans carry the first name Garald. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Garald today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garald births was 1949 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garald. 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 Garald is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Garalds were born before 1963.
People living today
233
~ 1 in 1,471,049 Americans
Peak year
1949
25 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1982 SSA rank
#5,894
Tracked since 1913
Census
Garald in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 334 people with the first name Garald, which placed it at #27,416 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
#27,416
National first-name rank
People counted
334
334 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Garald
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garald is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Garald 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 Garald at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.5% · 289
- Black or African American5.4% · 18
- Two or more races3.6% · 12
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Garald: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garald 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 138 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
Garald 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 Garald during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Garald
The name Garald is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "ger" meaning "spear" and "wald" meaning "ruler" or "wielder." This combination suggests the meaning of "spear ruler" or "one who wields a spear." The name dates back to the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries, when the Germanic tribes were prominent in various regions of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Garald can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, a collection of medieval documents from the 8th century. It mentions a Frankish nobleman named Garald who was a vassal of Charlemagne, the renowned king of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 9th century, a Garald is mentioned in the Annals of Fulda, a historical chronicle written by monks in the Benedictine monastery of Fulda in present-day Germany. This Garald was a count who participated in military campaigns against the Slavic tribes in the region.
During the Viking Age, the name Garald was popular among the Scandinavian peoples, particularly the Norwegians and Swedes. One notable bearer of this name was Garald Fairhair, a semi-legendary Norwegian king who ruled in the 9th century and is credited with unifying the petty kingdoms of Norway into a single realm.
In the later Middle Ages, the name Garald found its way into various European royal families. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Garald VI, Count of Holstein, who lived from 1238 to 1304 and was a prominent figure in the political affairs of northern Germany during his time.
Another notable Garald in history was Garald FitzGerald, an Anglo-Norman nobleman who lived in the 12th century and played a significant role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. He was a close ally of King Henry II of England and was granted extensive lands in Ireland for his services.
While the name Garald has waned in popularity in modern times, it continues to be used occasionally, particularly in certain regions with a strong Germanic cultural heritage. However, its long and fascinating history serves as a testament to the enduring legacy of names and their ability to reflect the rich tapestry of cultures and civilizations that have shaped our world.
People
Garald + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garald 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
Garald: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garald?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 233 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garald 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 1,471,049 US residents.
Is Garald a common name?
We classify Garald as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 480 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garald most popular?
The single biggest year for Garald was 1949, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garald is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Garald in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 334 people with the name Garald, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,416 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 Garald 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 Garald?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Garald appears almost entirely male. Of the 333 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Garald?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garald is White at 86.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Garald most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Garald in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.5% (289 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 Garald in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garald a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Garald 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 Garald still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garald 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 Garald 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 common is the name Garald?
See how many people have the name Garald on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.