Rohan
A masculine Sanskrit name meaning "ascending" or "upward".
Name Census estimates that about 11,695 living Americans carry the first name Rohan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rohan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rohan births was 2004 (522 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rohan. 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 Rohan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rohan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,308 Americans
Peak year
2004
522 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#840
Tracked since 1969
Census
Rohan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,443 people with the first name Rohan, which placed it at #1,941 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
#1,941
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,443 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
63.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rohan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rohan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and White (9.1%). 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 Rohan 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 Rohan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander63.8% · 9,220
- Black or African American16.1% · 2,322
- White9.1% · 1,314
- Two or more races7.9% · 1,143
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 396
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 48
Gender
Gender distribution for Rohan
Out of the 11,845 babies given the name Rohan since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Rohan as a male name
- Ranked #840 in 2024
- 291 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (522 births)
Rohan as a female name
- Ranked #17,131 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rohan appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,448 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Rohan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rohan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 4,562 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Rohan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rohan 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 Rohan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rohans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Rohan, while Oklahoma, Kentucky, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 289 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rohan
The name Rohan has its origins in the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan tongue that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "rohana," which means "ascending" or "rising." This could suggest a connection to the rising sun or rising to greatness. The name was prominent in ancient India and can be found in various Hindu texts and scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rohan is in the Mahabharata, a renowned Sanskrit epic that is a significant part of Hindu mythology. The epic features a character named Rohan, who was a prince from the kingdom of Kashi (modern-day Varanasi). This suggests that the name was in use in ancient India as early as the 8th or 9th century BCE, when the Mahabharata is believed to have been composed.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rohan. One of the most famous was Rohan Kanhai, a West Indian cricketer who played for the West Indies cricket team from 1957 to 1975. He was born in 1935 in British Guiana (now Guyana) and was known for his impressive batting skills and captaincy.
Another historical figure with the name Rohan was Rohan Gavaskar, an Indian cricketer and the son of the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Rohan played for the Indian national team in the 1990s and was a talented opening batsman. He was born in 1976 and retired from international cricket in 2004.
In the field of literature, Rohan Dhawan was an Indian writer and poet who gained recognition for his works in both English and Hindi. He was born in 1948 and published several collections of poetry and novels, including "The Burnt Offering" and "The Chowringhee Poems." Dhawan passed away in 2021.
Another notable individual with the name Rohan was Rohan Bopanna, an Indian professional tennis player. Born in 1980, Bopanna has achieved success in both singles and doubles competitions, and he has represented India in numerous international tournaments, including the Olympics.
Lastly, Rohan Marley, the son of legendary Jamaican reggae artist Bob Marley, is another well-known figure with the name Rohan. Born in 1972, Rohan Marley is a former football player and entrepreneur who has been involved in various business ventures, including the House of Marley audio electronics company.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Rohan, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures and fields.
People
Rohan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rohan 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
Rohan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rohan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,695 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rohan 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 29,308 US residents.
Is Rohan a common name?
We classify Rohan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,845 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rohan most popular?
The single biggest year for Rohan was 2004, when 522 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rohan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rohan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,443 people with the name Rohan, or 4.78 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,941 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 Rohan 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 Rohan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rohan appears almost entirely male. Of the 14,448 people counted with this name, 99.2% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Rohan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rohan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 63.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and White (9.1%). 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 Rohan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Rohan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.8% (9,220 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 Rohan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rohan a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Rohan 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 Rohan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rohan 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 Rohan 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 Americans are named Rohan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.