Roaa
An Arabic name meaning "vision" or "dream".
Name Census estimates that about 78 living Americans carry the first name Roaa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roaa today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roaa births was 2016 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roaa. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Roaa with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Roaa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
78
~ 1 in 4,394,286 Americans
Peak year
2016
11 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,988
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Roaa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roaa from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 47 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Roaa remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roaa by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Roaa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roaas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Roaa
The name Roaa has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, tracing back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "rawaa," which means "to quench thirst" or "to irrigate." This name is believed to have been inspired by the arid desert landscapes of the Arabian Peninsula, where access to water and its life-giving properties held great significance.
In Islamic tradition, the name Roaa is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, where it is referenced in the context of describing the bounties of paradise. This association with a heavenly garden and the abundance of water has contributed to the name's positive connotations and its popularity among Muslim communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Roaa can be found in the historical accounts of the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled from the 7th to the 8th century CE. During this period, a notable figure named Roaa bint al-Mundhir was known for her wisdom and poetry, gaining recognition among the literary circles of her time.
Throughout history, several influential individuals have borne the name Roaa. In the 12th century, Roaa al-Mosuli was a renowned female poet and calligrapher from Mosul, Iraq, whose works were celebrated for their elegance and artistic merit. During the 19th century, Roaa al-Khalidi was a prominent Palestinian scholar and educator who contributed significantly to the intellectual discourse of her era.
In more recent times, Roaa Al-Jaza'iri, born in 1961, was an Iraqi novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of identity, displacement, and the complexities of the human experience. Another notable figure is Roaa Khaled, born in 1979, a Syrian-born American fashion designer and entrepreneur who has made a name for herself in the global fashion industry.
The name Roaa has also been carried by several athletes and public figures, including Roaa Sharbatly, an Egyptian squash player who won multiple international tournaments in the early 2000s, and Roaa Al-Ghobar, a Saudi human rights activist and advocate for women's empowerment in the Middle East.
People
Roaa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roaa as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Roaa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roaa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 78 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roaa going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 4,394,286 US residents.
Is Roaa a common name?
We classify Roaa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 79 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roaa most popular?
The single biggest year for Roaa was 2016, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roaa is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Roaa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roaa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roaa in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Roaa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roaa in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Roaa can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Roaa?
Find out how many Americans are named Roaa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.