Gilberto is the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Gilbert, a Germanic name from gisil, "pledge", and beraht, bright, which is read as "bright pledge". The Brazilian musicians João Gilberto and Gilberto Gil gave the name a bossa nova sound. Gilberto is a long-standing choice in Mexican American families: it ranked number 480 in 2000, slipped out of the top 1000 in the mid-2010s and stands at number 1521 in 2025.