Christian Pure

Geraldine Is Not in the Bible — a Poet Invented It in 1537

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Geraldine is not in the Bible and is younger than most people guess: the poet Henry Howard created it in a 1537 sonnet praising Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, whom he called “The Geraldine”.
  • It is the feminine of Gerald, from Germanic ger (“spear”) and wald (“rule”) — a spear-ruler.
  • Isaiah 2:4 has spears beaten into pruning hooks: the metal is reforged rather than discarded, the same edge turned to tending vines.
  • The verse ends with the clause usually skipped — “nor will they train for war anymore”. It is not only the weapons that are put away.
  • The one spear not reforged is in John 19:34, where a soldier doing his job opens a source rather than closing a life.

Geraldine is not in the Bible, and it is younger than most people guess. A poet made it up in 1537. Henry Howard wrote a sonnet in praise of Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald and called her The Geraldine — taking her family name and turning it into a title. The title became a name, and it has been given to daughters ever since. What does the name Geraldine mean? It is the feminine of Gerald, which is Germanic: ger, a spear,…

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Bibliography (Click to show)

Sources: Behind the Name entries for Geraldine and Gerald (created by Henry Howard for a 1537 sonnet praising Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald; Germanic ger + wald); Scripture quotations from the NIV via BibleGateway (Isaiah 2:4; John 19:34).

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