Gerald

For other uses, see Gerald (disambiguation).

Gerald

Pronunciation	/ˈdʒɛrəld/ JERR-əld
Gender	Male
Origin
Meaning	"rule of the spear", "bright spear"
Region of origin	Germanic
Other names
Related names	Jerrold, Geraldine, Jerald, Gerard, Jerry, Gerry, Gerhard, Geert

Gerald is a masculine Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ger- ("spear") and suffix -wald ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish language Gearalt. Gerald is less common as a surname. The name is also found in French as Gérald. Geraldine is the feminine equivalent.

Given name

People with the name Gerald include:

Politicians

• Gerald Boland, Ireland's longest-serving Minister for Justice
• Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States
• Gerald Gardiner, Baron Gardiner, Lord Chancellor from 1964 to 1970
• Gerald Häfner, German MEP
• Gerald Klug, Austrian politician
• Gerald Lascelles (disambiguation), several people
• Gerald Nabarro, British Conservative politician
• Gerald S. McGowan, US Ambassador to Portugal
• Gerald Van Woerkom, American former member of the Michigan Legislature in both the House and Senate
• Gerald "Boomer" Wright, American politician
• Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, British diplomat, soldier, and architect

Sports

• Gerald Asamoah, Ghanaian-born German football player
• Gerald Beverly, American basketball player
• Gerald Brown (American football), American football coach
• Gerald Christian (born 1991), American football player
• Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player
• Gerald Dockery, American football player
• Gerald Everett, American football player
• Gerald Green, American basketball player
• Gerald "Dusty" Hannahs (born 1993), American basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
• Gerald Humphries, English cricketer
• Gerald Laird, American baseball player
• Gerald Madkins (born 1969), American basketball player and executive
• Gerald Melzer, Austrian tennis player
• Gerald Sensabaugh, American football player
• Gerald Sherry, American football player
• Gerald Wallace, American basketball player
• Gerald Willis (born 1995), American football player

Entertainment

• Gerald Anderson (born 1989), Filipino American actor
• Gerald Butler (writer) (1907–1988), English writer and screenwriter
• Gerald Casale, vocalist, bass guitar & synthesizer player, Devo
• Gerry Cinnamon (born Gerald Crosbie, 1985), Scottish musician
• Gerald Finzi, British composer
• Gerald Fried (1928–2023), American composer
• Gerald Harper (born 1929), English actor
• Gerald Haslam, American author The Other California
• Gerald Alexander Held, German actor
• Gerald Levert (1966–2006), American R&B singer and songwriter
• Gerald Masters, songwriter and musician
• Gerald McRaney (b. 1947), American actor
• Gérald Neveu (1921-1960), French poet
• Jerry Stiller (1927-2020), American actor and comedian and the father of Ben Stiller.
• Gerald Vizenor, novelist, poet and critic
• Gerald Gillum, American rapper known as "G-Eazy"
• Gerald Wiley, a pseudonym used by British comic actor and writer Ronnie Barker (1929-2005)

Other fields

• Gerald Ash, electrical engineer
• Gerald Birks, Canadian World War I fighter ace
• Gerald Bull, Canadian aerospace/artillery engineer
• Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales), medieval clergyman and chronicler of his times
• Gerald Cohen (1941–2009), Canadian professor of social and political theory at Oxford University, known as G. A. Cohen
• Gerald Durrell (1925–1995), British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter
• Lady Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, British aristocrat
• Gerald Friedland, American academic
• Gerald Murphy, American heir
• Gerald Ratner, British retail tycoon
• Gerald Mayo, filed a lawsuit against Satan and his servants in US District Court
• Gerald Shur (1933-2020), American lawyer, and the founder of the US Federal Witness Protection Program
• Gerald Sparrow (1903–1988), British lawyer, judge and travel writer
• Gerald Templer, British Army officer and military commander
• Gerald C. Thomas, United States Marine Corpsgeneral who served as Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps
• Gerald Zamponi, Canadian academic

Fictional characters

• Gerald Tippett, a character in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street
• Gerald Robotnik, a character from Sonic Adventure 2
• Gerald Broflovski, a character from South Park
• Gerald Martin Johanssen, a character from Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!
• Gerald, an anthropomorphic sea lion in the 2016 animated sequel film Finding Dory
• Gerald McCloy, protagonist in 1950 short film Gerald McBoing-Boing
• Gerald, a character from Little Lotta comics and Harvey Street Kids
• Gerald O'Hara, Scarlett O'Hara's father in the film Gone with the Wind
• Gerald, real name of Gator, a character from Thomas and Friends.

Surname

• Matt Gerald, American actor and screenwriter

See also

• Geraldine
• Gerad (disambiguation)
• Jerald (name)
• Jerrold
• FitzGerald