Roberta
Feminine form of the masculine name Robert, meaning "bright renown".
Name Census estimates that about 79,667 living Americans carry the first name Roberta. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Roberta today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roberta births was 1953 (4,310 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roberta. 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 Roberta with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Roberta is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 782 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Roberta is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Robertas were born before 1968.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Roberta have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
80K
~ 1 in 4,302 Americans
Peak year
1953
4,310 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1990 SSA rank
#2,760
Tracked since 1880
Census
Roberta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 104,464 people with the first name Roberta, which placed it at #538 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
#538
National first-name rank
People counted
104K
104,464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
34.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roberta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roberta is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Roberta 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 Roberta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.2% · 84,805
- Black or African American7.5% · 7,870
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 7,105
- Two or more races2.1% · 2,245
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 1,460
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 979
Gender
Gender distribution for Roberta
Out of the 172,267 babies given the name Roberta since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Roberta as a male name
- Ranked #5,720 in 1990
- 9 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1943 (22 births)
Roberta as a female name
- Ranked #2,760 in 2024
- 62 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1953 (4,299 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roberta appears almost entirely female. Of the 104,467 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Roberta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roberta from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 38,202 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roberta 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 Roberta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Robertas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Roberta, while Nevada, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,231 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roberta
The name Roberta is a feminine form of the name Robert, which has its origins in the Germanic name Hrodebert. Hrodebert is derived from the Germanic elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "berht" meaning "bright." The name Robert gained popularity after being borne by several Frankish lords and nobles in the early medieval period, including Robert I, Duke of Normandy who played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century.
The feminine form Roberta emerged in Italy during the Renaissance period as an Italian variant of the name Robert. It was initially used as a nickname or diminutive form before gaining wider acceptance as a given name in its own right. The earliest recorded use of Roberta as a first name dates back to the 14th century in Italy.
One of the earliest notable figures named Roberta was Roberta Guasconi, an Italian painter and engraver who lived from around 1540 to 1619. She was a prominent artist in the Mannerist style and was one of the few female painters of her time to gain recognition for her work.
In the realm of literature, the name Roberta gained prominence through the character of Roberta "Bobbie" Wickham in the 1904 novel "The Golden Age" by Kenneth Grahame. The book was a classic of children's literature and helped to popularize the name in the English-speaking world.
Another notable figure named Roberta was Roberta Cowell, an English aviatrix and pioneering pilot who lived from 1892 to 1992. She was the first woman to be awarded the Air Ministry's Aviator's Certificate in 1912 and played a significant role in promoting women's involvement in aviation.
In the world of music, Roberta Flack, an American singer-songwriter born in 1937, has had a lasting impact with her soulful and introspective compositions. She is best known for her hit songs "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song," which earned her multiple Grammy Awards.
Roberta Vinci, an Italian professional tennis player born in 1983, achieved notable success on the court. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world and won several prestigious tournaments, including the 2015 US Open where she defeated Serena Williams in the semifinals.
People
Roberta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roberta 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
Roberta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roberta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79,667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roberta 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 4,302 US residents.
Is Roberta a common name?
We classify Roberta as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 172,267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roberta most popular?
The single biggest year for Roberta was 1953, when 4,310 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roberta is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roberta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 104,464 people with the name Roberta, or 34.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #538 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 Roberta 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 Roberta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roberta appears almost entirely female. Of the 104,467 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Roberta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roberta is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Roberta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roberta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (84,805 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 Roberta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roberta a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Roberta 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 Roberta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roberta 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 Roberta 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 are named Roberta?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Roberta at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.