Jerald
Masculine name derived from Gerald, meaning "rules with a spear".
Name Census estimates that about 17,433 living Americans carry the first name Jerald. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jerald today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jerald births was 1942 (654 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jerald. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Jerald with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Jerald is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 102 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
17K
~ 1 in 19,661 Americans
Peak year
1942
654 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,913
Tracked since 1909
Census
Jerald in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,095 people with the first name Jerald, which placed it at #1,709 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
#1,709
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,095 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jerald
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerald is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Jerald 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 Jerald at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.0% · 13,925
- Black or African American13.7% · 2,480
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 581
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 447
- Two or more races2.4% · 441
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 221
Gender
Gender distribution for Jerald
Out of the 26,268 babies given the name Jerald since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Jerald as a male name
- Ranked #3,913 in 2024
- 28 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1942 (647 births)
Jerald as a female name
- Ranked #14,183 in 1992
- 5 female births in 1992
- Peak: 1942 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerald appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,095 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Jerald: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jerald from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 5,735 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
Jerald 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 Jerald during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeralds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Jerald, while Maine, Wyoming, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 488 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jerald
The given name Jerald is a Germanic name with roots that can be traced back to the 5th century AD. It is a combination of the Germanic elements "ger" or "ger" meaning "spear" and "wald" or "waldan" meaning "to rule" or "to govern." Together, these elements suggest a meaning of "ruler with a spear" or "spear ruler."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jerald can be found in the Frankish Chronicles, which documented the life of a Frankish nobleman named Jerald who lived in the late 6th century. This Jerald was known for his military prowess and served as a trusted advisor to King Childebert II.
In the 9th century, there was a Jerald who was a prominent scholar and theologian in the court of Charlemagne. This Jerald was known for his contributions to the Carolingian Renaissance and his writings on theology and philosophy.
During the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, there was a Norman knight named Jerald who fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was later rewarded with lands in northern England for his service.
In the 13th century, there was a Jerald who served as a crusader during the Fifth Crusade in the Holy Land. He was part of the forces led by King Andrew II of Hungary and participated in the siege of Damietta in 1219.
Another notable figure with the name Jerald was Jerald of Borgo San Donnino, an Italian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 13th century. He is credited with introducing the use of Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe and made significant contributions to the development of algebra and trigonometry.
People
Jerald + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jerald as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jerald: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jerald?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,433 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jerald 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 19,661 US residents.
Is Jerald a common name?
We classify Jerald as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,268 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jerald most popular?
The single biggest year for Jerald was 1942, when 654 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jerald is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jerald in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,095 people with the name Jerald, or 5.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,709 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 Jerald 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 Jerald?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jerald appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,095 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Jerald?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jerald is White at 77.0%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (3.2%). 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 Jerald most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jerald in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.0% (13,925 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 Jerald in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jerald a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Jerald 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 Jerald still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jerald 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 Jerald 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 many people have the name Jerald?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.