Meaning of the nameGonçalo

Male
Germanic origin
Gon-ça-lo

Gonçalo is a male name of Germanic origin, a form of Gonçalvo whose first element means 'war, battle'; the meaning of the second is debated.

Meaning

The meaning of Gonçalo is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 11,546
Rank in Brazil: #1,541
Median age: 58 years
2010 Census: 13,439; people

Gonçalo in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Gonçalo, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1960s (2,650 people).

57 women 11,489 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Gonçalo is most common

States with the highest share of people named Gonçalo in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Piauí 0.039%
Mato Grosso 0.033%
Ceará 0.015%
Maranhão 0.011%
Rio Grande do Norte 0.007%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	1,909	0.004%
Ceará	1,314	0.015%
Piauí	1,260	0.039%
Mato Grosso	1,191	0.033%
Bahia	920	0.007%
Maranhão	737	0.011%
Minas Gerais	707	0.003%
Rio Grande do Sul	625	0.006%
Rio de Janeiro	520	0.003%
Pará	282	0.004%
Pernambuco	258	0.003%
Paraná	235	0.002%
Rio Grande do Norte	235	0.007%
Goiás	212	0.003%
Distrito Federal	180	0.006%
Alagoas	152	0.005%
Sergipe	141	0.006%
Paraíba	134	0.003%
Mato Grosso do Sul	120	0.004%
Santa Catarina	119	0.002%
Amazonas	81	0.002%
Tocantins	78	0.005%
Roraima	42	0.007%
Espírito Santo	33	0.001%
Rondônia	31	0.002%
Amapá	23	0.003%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Gonçalo

Wiktionary gives Gonçalo as a variant of Gonçalvo, a name that comes from Gothic and Proto-Germanic *Gunþisalbō, composed of *gunþiz, 'war, battle', and *salbō, 'colonist, pacifier'; the surname Gonçalves derives from Gonçalvo. Behind the Name lists Gonçalo as the Portuguese form of Spanish Gonzalo, from Medieval Latin Gundisalvus, and also gives the first element the meaning 'war', but treats the second as uncertain, with proposals such as 'ointment', 'dark' or 'house'. It is an almost always male name, given mostly to people born between the 1940s and 1960s; proportionally, it is most common in Piauí. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 11,546 people named Gonçalo, with a median age of 58.

Sources

Wiktionary: Gonçalo · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Wiktionary: Gonçalvo · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Gonçalo · behindthename.com · origin
Behind the Name: Gonzalo · behindthename.com · origin

Questions about the name Gonçalo

What does the name Gonçalo mean?

The meaning of Gonçalo is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Gonçalo in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 11,546 people with the first name Gonçalo, which ranks it number 1,541 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1960s.

Is Gonçalo a boy's or a girl's name?

Gonçalo is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 57 women and 11,489 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Gonçalo?

Gonçalo is a name of Germanic origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Gonçalo most common?

Proportionally, in Piauí: 0.039% of the state's population is named Gonçalo (1,260 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Germanic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Gonçalo with a source. See the methodology.