Rockne
From Old Norse, meaning rocky field or meadow on a sloping rock.
Name Census estimates that about 261 living Americans carry the first name Rockne. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rockne today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rockne births was 1931 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rockne. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Rockne is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Rocknes were born before 1970.
People living today
261
~ 1 in 1,313,235 Americans
Peak year
1931
17 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2009 SSA rank
#12,167
Tracked since 1931
Census
Rockne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 391 people with the first name Rockne, which placed it at #24,576 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
#24,576
National first-name rank
People counted
391
391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rockne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rockne is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Rockne 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 Rockne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.4% · 322
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 22
- Two or more races5.4% · 21
- Black or African American3.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Rockne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rockne from the 1930s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 122 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rockne 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 Rockne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rocknes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rockne
The given name Rockne is a relatively modern name, originating in the early 20th century. It is an Anglicized form of the Norwegian surname Rockne, which itself is derived from the Old Norse word "røkn," meaning "narrative" or "story." The name is closely associated with Knute Rockne, the legendary football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930.
Knute Rockne, born Knut Rockne in 1888 in Voss, Norway, is considered one of the greatest coaches in American football history. He popularized the forward pass, revolutionized the game's strategy, and led Notre Dame to national prominence. Rockne tragically died in a plane crash in 1931 at the age of 43, but his legacy lives on through the widespread use of his surname as a given name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Rockne as a first name was Rockne Kreitzburg, an American football player born in 1933. He played for the University of Notre Dame under Coach Frank Leahy, who had been an assistant to Knute Rockne. This early association with Notre Dame football solidified Rockne as a popular name choice for baby boys in the mid-20th century.
Another notable bearer of the name was Rockne Tarkington, an American artist and painter born in 1935. Tarkington was known for his abstract expressionist works and was a part of the New York art scene in the 1960s and 1970s. His use of the name Rockne likely reflected the popularity of the name during that time period.
Rockne O'Bannon, born in 1957, is an American television writer and producer best known for creating the science fiction series "Farscape." His unique first name reflects the enduring influence of Knute Rockne on American culture, even decades after his death.
Finally, Rockne Brubaker, born in 1947, was an American professional wrestler and actor. He performed under the ring name "Rockne Tupper" during his wrestling career, which spanned from the 1970s to the 1990s. The use of Rockne as part of his wrestling persona demonstrates the name's association with athleticism and strength, likely influenced by its connection to Knute Rockne's coaching legacy.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rockne
People
Rockne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rockne 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
Rockne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rockne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 261 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rockne 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 1,313,235 US residents.
Is Rockne a common name?
We classify Rockne as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 398 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rockne most popular?
The single biggest year for Rockne was 1931, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rockne is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rockne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 391 people with the name Rockne, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,576 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 Rockne 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 Rockne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rockne leans strongly male. 380 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 12 female bearers (3.1%). 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 Rockne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rockne is White at 82.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.4%). 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 Rockne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rockne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.4% (322 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 Rockne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rockne a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rockne 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 Rockne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rockne 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 Rockne 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 common is the name Rockne?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.