Rolan
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "famous land".
Name Census estimates that about 782 living Americans carry the first name Rolan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rolan today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rolan births was 2021 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rolan. 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 Rolan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
782
~ 1 in 438,305 Americans
Peak year
2021
33 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,662
Tracked since 1915
Census
Rolan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 974 people with the first name Rolan, which placed it at #12,687 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
#12,687
National first-name rank
People counted
974
974 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rolan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rolan is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.5%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Rolan 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 Rolan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.6% · 434
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.5% · 190
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 187
- Black or African American10.8% · 105
- Two or more races4.4% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 15
Popularity
Rolan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rolan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 199 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rolan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rolan 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 Rolan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rolans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Rolan, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rolan
The given name Rolan has its origins in the Germanic languages, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old German name "Rodland" or "Hrodland," which means "famous land" or "land of fame." This name was particularly popular among the Frankish and Carolingian nobility during the 8th and 9th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rolan can be found in the famous medieval epic poem "The Song of Roland," which dates back to the late 11th century. In this epic, Rolan is depicted as a brave and loyal knight who serves under the legendary Frankish king Charlemagne. The poem narrates Rolan's heroic efforts in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, where he sacrifices his life to protect the rear guard of Charlemagne's army.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Rolan was widely used across various regions of Europe, particularly in France, Germany, and Italy. It gained further prominence during the era of the Crusades, when many knights and nobles bore this name. One notable historical figure was Rolan de Bâgé, a French knight who participated in the Third Crusade and fought alongside Richard the Lionheart during the siege of Acre in 1191.
In the 13th century, Rolan de Vaux was a renowned French architect and mason who is credited with the construction of several significant Gothic cathedrals, including the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. His exceptional craftsmanship and innovative architectural techniques left a lasting impact on the development of Gothic architecture.
During the Renaissance period, the name Rolan was popular among artists and intellectuals. Rolan Freart, Sieur de Chambray (1606-1676), was a French architect and writer who is renowned for his influential treatise on architecture, "Parallèle de l'architecture antique et de la moderne" (Parallel of Ancient and Modern Architecture).
In more recent times, Rolan Bykov (1929-1998) was a prominent Soviet actor, director, and screenwriter known for his powerful performances in films such as "Autumn Marathon" and "Aty-Baty, Shli Soldaty..." He received numerous accolades for his contributions to Soviet cinema and was widely regarded as a national treasure.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals who have borne the name Rolan throughout history, each leaving their unique mark in various fields and cultures across the globe.
People
Rolan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rolan 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
Rolan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rolan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 782 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rolan 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 438,305 US residents.
Is Rolan a common name?
We classify Rolan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,067 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rolan most popular?
The single biggest year for Rolan was 2021, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rolan is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rolan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 974 people with the name Rolan, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,687 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 Rolan 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 Rolan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rolan leans strongly male. 954 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 25 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Rolan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rolan is White at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.5%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Rolan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rolan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (434 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 Rolan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rolan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rolan 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 Rolan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rolan 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 Rolan 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 share the name Rolan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.