Roark
Meaning "son of the rock," a name of Old German origin.
Name Census estimates that about 490 living Americans carry the first name Roark. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Roark today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roark births was 2021 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roark. 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 Roark with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
490
~ 1 in 699,499 Americans
Peak year
2021
27 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,825
Tracked since 1948
Census
Roark in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 467 people with the first name Roark, which placed it at #21,646 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#21,646
National first-name rank
People counted
467
467 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roark
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roark is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Roark described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Roark at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.8% · 396
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 25
- Two or more races3.6% · 17
- Black or African American2.6% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 6
Popularity
Roark: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roark from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 175 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Roark remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roark 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 Roark during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roarks live
Origin
Meaning and history of Roark
The name Roark has its origins in the Old Norse language, derived from the word "hrokr," which means "rook" or "crow." This name likely emerged during the Viking era, between the 8th and 11th centuries, and was initially used by Scandinavian communities in present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Early records of the name Roark can be found in various Old Norse sagas and legends, where it was often associated with characters who were known for their strength, bravery, and cunning. One notable example is the character Roark the Wise, who appears in the Icelandic saga "Njál's Saga," written in the 13th century.
The earliest known historical figure with the name Roark was Roark Haraldsson, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the 11th century. He was known for his role in the Battle of Stiklestad, where he fought alongside King Olaf II of Norway against the forces of the Danish king, Cnut the Great.
Another prominent figure with the name Roark was Roark the Red, a Swedish Viking who lived in the late 10th century. He was renowned for his exploits as a fearsome raider and warrior, and his name has been immortalized in various Norse legends and songs.
In the 13th century, there was a notable English nobleman named Roark de Lacy, who served as Lord of Meath in Ireland during the Norman conquest of the island. He played a significant role in the establishment of English rule in Ireland and was known for his military prowess.
During the Renaissance period, the name Roark gained popularity in some parts of Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. One notable figure from this era was Roark van Deventer, a Dutch explorer and navigator who was among the first Europeans to establish a trade route to the East Indies in the early 17th century.
In more recent times, the name Roark has been associated with several influential figures, including Roark Bradford, an American novelist and writer who was best known for his book "Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun," which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1929. Another notable bearer of the name was Roark Crill, an American artist and sculptor who was known for his abstract and modernist works in the mid-20th century.
People
Roark + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roark 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
Roark: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roark?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 490 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roark 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 699,499 US residents.
Is Roark a common name?
We classify Roark as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roark most popular?
The single biggest year for Roark was 2021, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roark is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roark in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 467 people with the name Roark, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,646 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Roark in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Roark?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roark leans strongly male. 446 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 12 female bearers (2.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Roark?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roark is White at 84.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Roark most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roark in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.8% (396 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Roark in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roark a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roark in the SSA data are male. 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 Roark still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roark 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 Roark 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.
How many people have the name Roark?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Roark, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.