Rogue
A deceitful, unprincipled person; a playful scoundrel or mischievous person.
Name Census estimates that about 1,036 living Americans carry the first name Rogue. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Rogue today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rogue births was 2021 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rogue. 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
- • Rogue sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Rogue is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 330,844 Americans
Peak year
2021
90 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,520
Tracked since 1937
Gender
Gender distribution for Rogue
Rogue is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,056 total registrations, 421 (39.9%) were male and 635 (60.1%) were female.
Rogue as a male name
- Ranked #4,520 in 2024
- 23 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (38 births)
Rogue as a female name
- Ranked #4,533 in 2024
- 31 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (57 births)
Popularity
Rogue: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rogue from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 494 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rogue remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rogue 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 Rogue during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rogues live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Oregon, Texas recorded the most babies named Rogue, while Washington, Texas, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rogue
The name Rogue has its origins in the French language and can be traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Old French word "rogue," which itself comes from the Latin word "rauca," meaning "hoarse." The name was originally used as an adjective to describe someone who was arrogant, insolent, or dishonest.
In the Middle Ages, the term "rogue" was used to refer to a wandering beggar or vagabond who lived outside the norms of society. It was also used to describe a mischievous or dishonest person. The earliest recorded use of the name Rogue as a given name dates back to the late 16th century in England.
One of the earliest historical references to the name Rogue can be found in the works of William Shakespeare. In his play "The Winter's Tale," written around 1611, one of the characters is named Rogue. This may have been an intentional play on words by Shakespeare, as the character in question is a mischievous and cunning individual.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Rogue. One of the earliest was Rogue Riderhood, a character in Charles Dickens' novel "Our Mutual Friend," published in 1864-65. Riderhood was a villainous and unscrupulous waterman who lived in London.
In the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Rogue was Rogue Trooper, a genetically engineered super-soldier from the popular British comic book series of the same name, which debuted in 1981.
Other notable individuals with the name Rogue include Rogue Herries, a fictional character from the novel "Rogue Herries" by Hugh Walpole, published in 1930. There was also Rogue Ridler, an English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in the late 19th century.
In more recent times, the name Rogue has been used as a nickname or stage name by various individuals in the entertainment industry, particularly in the world of professional wrestling and comic books. One of the most well-known is Rogue, a Marvel Comics superhero who first appeared in the Avengers comic book series in 1981.
People
Rogue + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rogue 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
Rogue: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rogue?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,036 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rogue 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 330,844 US residents.
Is Rogue a common name?
We classify Rogue as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,056 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rogue most popular?
The single biggest year for Rogue was 2021, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rogue is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rogue a female name?
Yes, 60.1% of people registered as Rogue 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.
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.