Gilberta
A feminine name with Germanic roots, meaning "distinguished vow".
Name Census estimates that about 118 living Americans carry the first name Gilberta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gilberta today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gilberta births was 1917 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gilberta. 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 Gilberta is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gilbertas were born before 1961.
People living today
118
~ 1 in 2,904,698 Americans
Peak year
1917
24 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1976 SSA rank
#9,782
Tracked since 1897
Census
Gilberta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 681 people with the first name Gilberta, which placed it at #16,519 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
#16,519
National first-name rank
People counted
681
681 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gilberta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilberta is Hispanic at 60.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Gilberta 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 Gilberta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino60.8% · 414
- White27.6% · 188
- Black or African American5.9% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 22
- Two or more races1.3% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 8
Popularity
Gilberta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gilberta from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 169 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gilberta 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 Gilberta 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 Gilberta
The name Gilberta is a feminine given name of Germanic origin, derived from the root name Gilbert, which itself is a combination of the Germanic elements "gisil" meaning "pledge" or "hostage" and "berht" meaning "bright" or "shining." The name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, particularly in regions of present-day Germany and France.
In the early medieval period, the name Gilberta was relatively uncommon, but it gained popularity in the later Middle Ages, particularly among the nobility and upper classes. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners in England following the Norman Conquest.
While the name does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it was likely influenced by the popularity of the male name Gilbert, which was borne by several notable figures in medieval Europe. One such figure was Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford (c. 1180-1230), a powerful English nobleman and military leader during the reign of King John.
Another historically significant bearer of the name was Gilberta, Countess of Suffolk (c. 1120-1187), an English noblewoman and the wife of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk. She played a crucial role in the negotiations between King Henry II and her husband during the Revolt of 1173-1174.
In the 13th century, Gilberta de Lacy (c. 1211-1273) was an influential English noblewoman and the wife of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath. She was known for her involvement in the administration of her husband's lands in Ireland.
Moving into the Renaissance period, Gilberta Agnese (c. 1556-1632) was an Italian cartographer and engraver who produced several notable maps and globes, including the first engraved map of the world to be produced by a woman.
Finally, in the 19th century, Gilberta Conceição (1805-1842) was a Brazilian writer and poet who was part of the Romantic literary movement in Brazil. Her works explored themes of love, nature, and the struggles of women in society.
People
Gilberta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gilberta 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
Gilberta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gilberta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gilberta 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 2,904,698 US residents.
Is Gilberta a common name?
We classify Gilberta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gilberta most popular?
The single biggest year for Gilberta was 1917, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gilberta is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gilberta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 681 people with the name Gilberta, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,519 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 Gilberta 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 Gilberta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gilberta leans strongly female. 671 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Gilberta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilberta is Hispanic at 60.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Black (5.9%). 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 Gilberta most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gilberta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (414 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 Gilberta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gilberta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gilberta in the SSA data are female. 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 Gilberta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gilberta 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 Gilberta 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 Gilberta?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.