The suburb is named after the word in the language of the Wiradhuri Aboriginal tribe of the Central West of New South Wales, meaning star.

An early childhood education and care facility for Jewish children opened in 2013 in the refurbished former Giralang Preschool building.

Ordovician age Pittman Formation greywacke and turbidites are found in the far east and northwest including a band of Acton Shale occurring right on the eastern border of the suburb.

A long fault heading north west roughly parallel to Ginninderra Creek is marked on the surface by an iron oxide reef.

In the south of Giralang this fault separates the Canberra formation from State Circle Shale uplifted on the east side.