Girls' name · peaked in 1931

Geraldine name popularity since 1925

166,499 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Geraldine. Half of them were born in 1941 or earlier, so the typical Geraldine is about 85 years old in 2026. Geraldine peaked in 1931 as the #38 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 166,499; Named Geraldine, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1931; #38 for girls that year
Typical age: About 85; Median birth year 1941
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #2,447 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.6% girls; 165,846 girls · 653 boys
Most popular in: Hawaii; 1.79× its national share

Peak year is the year Geraldine made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Geraldine births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year by count was 1930. Measured as a share of all babies, Geraldine peaked in 1931.

Steepest fall: Between 1967 and 1972, Geraldine's share of baby girls fell by 68%, from 1 in 2,230 to 1 in 6,980.
Fastest rise: Between 1983 and 1988, it became 3.2× more common, from 1 in 16,200 baby girls to 1 in 5,020.

Shaded on the chart. Both compare Geraldine's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Geraldine.

Decade by decade

Babies named Geraldine in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	25,070	96	–
1930s	50,042	225	#40
1940s	47,933	203	#56
1950s	24,222	72	#162
1960s	9,789	35	#291
1970s	2,232	0	#859
1980s	1,561	22	#1,143
1990s	1,198	0	#1,421
2000s	1,417	0	#1,331
2010s	1,719	0	#1,648
2020–25	663	0	#2,447

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

54.7% of babies named Geraldine from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Geraldine is most popular

The index compares Geraldine's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Geraldine.

State	Index	Babies
Hawaii	1.79×	921
Louisiana	1.68×	4,969
Pennsylvania	1.68×	14,089
Maine	1.64×	1,152
North Dakota	1.55×	808

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Geraldine's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Geraldine.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Geraldine (1931).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data