Jeraldine
A feminine name derived from Gerald, meaning "ruler with a spear".
Name Census estimates that about 1,703 living Americans carry the first name Jeraldine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Jeraldine today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jeraldine births was 1942 (188 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jeraldine. 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 Jeraldine is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Jeraldines were born before 1971.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,265 Americans
Peak year
1942
188 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,281
Tracked since 1909
Census
Jeraldine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,289 people with the first name Jeraldine, which placed it at #6,867 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
#6,867
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,289 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jeraldine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeraldine is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Hispanic (12.8%). 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 Jeraldine 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 Jeraldine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.5% · 1,225
- Black or African American25.3% · 578
- Hispanic or Latino12.8% · 294
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.2% · 118
- Two or more races2.0% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 28
Popularity
Jeraldine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jeraldine 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 1,226 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
Jeraldine 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 Jeraldine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jeraldines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, California recorded the most babies named Jeraldine, while Utah, New Jersey, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jeraldine
The name Jeraldine is an English feminine form derived from the masculine name Gerald, which in turn has its origins in the Germanic elements "ger" meaning "spear" and "wald" meaning "ruler" or "commander". This combination of words suggests a meaning along the lines of "ruler with a spear" or "spear-ruler".
While the name Gerald has been recorded in various spellings since the 8th century, the feminine variant Jeraldine is a relatively modern construction, likely emerging in the 19th century as an English adaptation of the French form Géraldine. It is believed that the name Jeraldine gained popularity in the English-speaking world due to the influence of the character Geraldine from the 1688 play "The Rover" by Aphra Behn.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jeraldine can be found in the 1853 novel "Jeraldine: A Souvenir of the Late War" by Mary Hosmer. This work, set during the Mexican-American War, features the titular character Jeraldine and may have contributed to the initial dissemination of the name in the United States.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Jeraldine include Jeraldine Blunden (1887-1977), an American dancer and actress known for her work in vaudeville and early silent films. Another prominent Jeraldine was Jeraldine Saunders (1923-2020), an American author and screenwriter who co-wrote the Oscar-winning film "The Grifters" in 1990.
In the realm of politics, Jeraldine Ferraro (1935-2011) made history as the first female vice-presidential candidate representing a major American political party when she was selected as Walter Mondale's running mate in the 1984 presidential election.
Jeraldine Desaulniers (1951-2018) was a Canadian author and educator who wrote numerous children's books and was recognized for her efforts in promoting literacy and encouraging young people to read.
Finally, Jeraldine Saunders (1923-2020), an American author and screenwriter, co-wrote the Oscar-winning film "The Grifters" in 1990, showcasing the versatility and enduring nature of the name Jeraldine across various creative fields.
People
Jeraldine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jeraldine 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
Jeraldine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jeraldine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,703 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jeraldine 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 201,265 US residents.
Is Jeraldine a common name?
We classify Jeraldine as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jeraldine most popular?
The single biggest year for Jeraldine was 1942, when 188 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jeraldine is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jeraldine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,289 people with the name Jeraldine, or 0.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,867 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 Jeraldine 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 Jeraldine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jeraldine appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,289 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Jeraldine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jeraldine is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) and Hispanic (12.8%). 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 Jeraldine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jeraldine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.5% (1,225 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 Jeraldine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jeraldine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jeraldine 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 Jeraldine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jeraldine 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 Jeraldine 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 are called Jeraldine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.