A male name. Old German Gairovald, compound of gairu ‘spear’ and vald ‘rule’. It was introduced into England by the Normans and was used regularly in the Middle Ages, but was by no means as common as Gerard (q.v.J with which, especially in Ireland and Wales, it was often confused. About the end of the 19th C it became relatively popular and is now much commoner than Gerard.

Geroldus, Geraldus, Giroldus, Giraldus, Giraudus Domesday Book 1086. Geroldin Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum? 1086. Gerolt Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1094-9. Geroldus Curia Regis Rolls 1197, 1219.

Seems to arise from a confusion of the Teutonic Gerwald, ‘spear-power’ and the mainly German Gerhard, ‘spear (that is) hard,’ i. e. ‘firm spear’. The original form was Gerhold, and, as Helena Swan says, ‘A good many Gerholds came to England with William the Conqueror, and from England the name was carried to Ireland, and there became naturalized’; note, however, that the Gerhold who founded the monastery of Tempul Gerald (etymologically, a most fascinating name), died in 732, and became a saint famed in Irish legend, was an Anglo-Saxon migrant (Yonge). But some of the Irish and Welsh Geralds have had parents confusing Gerhold with Celtic Gareth (ibid.).

Teutonic (masculine) - Warlike chief.

A Teutonic name, meaning: Mighty warrior: strong with the spear.