Rocky
A masculine name derived from the English word for a rocky area or stone.
Name Census estimates that about 24,764 living Americans carry the first name Rocky. It is a predominantly male name (98.6% of registrations). The average person named Rocky today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rocky births was 1957 (920 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rocky. 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 Rocky with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Rocky is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 403 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,841 Americans
Peak year
1957
920 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#657
Tracked since 1913
Census
Rocky in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,187 people with the first name Rocky, which placed it at #1,544 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
#1,544
National first-name rank
People counted
21K
21,187 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rocky
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rocky is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Rocky 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 Rocky at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.8% · 14,583
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 3,150
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 1,283
- Black or African American4.5% · 945
- Two or more races4.0% · 837
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 389
Gender
Gender distribution for Rocky
Rocky leans heavily male at 98.6% of total registrations, but 403 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rocky as a male name
- Ranked #657 in 2024
- 418 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (909 births)
Rocky as a female name
- Ranked #3,860 in 2024
- 39 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rocky leans strongly male. 20,817 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 364 female bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Rocky: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rocky from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 7,043 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
Rocky 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 Rocky during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rockys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Rocky, while Vermont, Maine, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 503 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rocky
The name Rocky has its origins in the English language, derived from the word "rock," which itself comes from the Old English "roccian," meaning "to shake or sway." It is often associated with strength, stability, and resilience.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Rocky dates back to the 16th century, when it was occasionally used as a nickname or diminutive form of the name Roch or Rocco. These names were derived from the Latin name "Rochius," which was a variant of the German name "Rocchus."
In Christian tradition, Saint Rocco (also known as Saint Roch or Saint Rochus) was a Catholic saint born in the late 13th century, who is venerated as the patron saint of the sick and those suffering from plague or pestilence. His name, Rocchus, is believed to have influenced the later popularization of the name Rocky.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Rocky. One of the earliest was Rocky Graziano (1919-1990), an American professional boxer and former World Middleweight Champion. He was born Thomas Rocco Barbella but adopted the nickname Rocky, which became his famous ring name.
Another famous Rocky was Rocky Marciano (1923-1969), an American professional boxer who held the World Heavyweight Championship from 1952 to 1956. He was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano but became known as Rocky Marciano during his illustrious boxing career.
In the realm of entertainment, Rocky Balboa is the name of the fictional boxer portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in the iconic "Rocky" film series, which debuted in 1976. The character's name has become synonymous with determination and perseverance in the face of adversity.
Rocky Dennis (1961-1979) was an American boy who was born with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a rare medical disorder that caused an abnormal calcification of the bones in his face. His life story was depicted in the 1985 film "Mask," starring Eric Stoltz.
Finally, Rocky Bleier (born 1946) is a former American football player who overcame severe injuries sustained during the Vietnam War to have a successful career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning four Super Bowl championships.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the first name Rocky throughout history, each contributing to the name's associations with resilience, strength, and determination.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rocky
People
Rocky + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rocky 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
Rocky: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rocky?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,764 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rocky 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 13,841 US residents.
Is Rocky a common name?
We classify Rocky as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28,567 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rocky most popular?
The single biggest year for Rocky was 1957, when 920 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rocky is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rocky in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,187 people with the name Rocky, or 7.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,544 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 Rocky 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 Rocky?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rocky leans strongly male. 20,817 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 364 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Rocky?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rocky is White at 68.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Rocky most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rocky in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.8% (14,583 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 Rocky in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rocky a male name?
Yes, 98.6% of people registered as Rocky 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 Rocky still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rocky 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 Rocky 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 Rocky?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.