Feminine form of Gerald, from Germanic 'ger' (spear) and 'wald' (rule), meaning spear ruler.
Geraldine is one of those names whose literary origin is precisely documented. The feminine form of Gerald — from the Germanic elements ger (spear) and wald (rule), meaning roughly "spear ruler" — Geraldine was essentially coined as a poetic conceit by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in the 1530s, when he wrote a series of sonnets addressed to "the fair Geraldine," his idealized lady (Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald). The name then gained its most famous literary treatment in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's unfinished Gothic poem "Christabel" (1816), where Geraldine is a mysterious, possibly supernatural figure of ambiguous menace and beauty — one of Romantic literature's most haunting feminine creations.
From this literary foundation, Geraldine moved into common use throughout the nineteenth century, reaching its peak of popularity in the early to mid-twentieth century. It was the name of Geraldine Farrar (1882–1967), the beloved American opera soprano who became one of the first entertainment celebrities of the film age. Most consequentially in political history, Geraldine Ferraro (1935–2011) became the first woman nominated for Vice President of the United States on a major party ticket, running alongside Walter Mondale in 1984 — giving the name a permanent association with groundbreaking female ambition.
In popular culture, Geraldine appeared in the long-running British sitcom "The Vicar of Dibley" (1994–2007), where the warm, comedic protagonist Geraldine Granger — played by Dawn French — gave the name contemporary affection. Today Geraldine is considered a vintage classic, part of the wave of grandmotherly names being reconsidered by parents who find in it a combination of strength, literary depth, and a kind of unhurried confidence that more fashionable names cannot match.