Gerald is a masculine given name derived from the Germanic languages prefix ger- ("spear") and suffix -wald ("rule").
An Old English equivalent name was Garweald, the likely original name of Gerald of Mayo, a British Roman Catholic monk who established a monastery in Mayo, Ireland in 670.
Nearly two centuries later, Gerald of Aurillac, a French count, took a vow of celibacy and later became known as the Roman Catholic patron saint of bachelors.
British novelist Ann Hatton published a novel called Gerald Fitzgerald in 1831.
Author Dorothea Grubb published her novel Gerald Fitzgerald in 1845, and Irish author Charles Lever published his novel, also entitled Gerald Fitzgerald, in 1859.