The name Gerold

0
Written by Jerry Gerold

Found this little piece online. Years ago I read that my last name was a combination of words meaning “Spear” and “Old”. This says almost the same thing. I do know that “Gerold” is the name of one of King Charlemagne’s father-in-laws, and that was in the 700s. That makes what this says not entirely accurate in that regard.

Gerold Meaning and Origin

1 English: variant of Garrett 1.

2. German: from the Germanic personal name Gerwald, composed of the elements gār, gēr ‘spear’, ‘lance’ + wald- ‘rule’. This unusual name is a variant of the personal name “Gerald”, which was introduced into Britain by the Normans after the conquest of 1066. The personal name is Germanic in origin, from the old German elements “gan” or “geri” meaning “spear” and “wald”, meaning “rule”. The first recordings of the given name are contained in the Domesday Book of 1086, as “Geraldi”, “Geroldi”, “Giroldi” and “Girold”.

Sources: The Dictionary of American Family Names © 2006, Patrick Hanks. Name Origin Research, © 2014.

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