Rolfe
Transferred from the Germanic given name Rodulf, meaning "famous wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 247 living Americans carry the first name Rolfe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rolfe today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rolfe births was 1955 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rolfe. 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 Rolfe is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Rolfes were born before 1963.
People living today
247
~ 1 in 1,387,669 Americans
Peak year
1955
20 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1974 SSA rank
#5,840
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Rolfe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rolfe from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 148 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
Rolfe 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 Rolfe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rolfe
The name Rolfe has its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the ancient Scandinavian peoples. It is derived from the Old Norse name Rodulfr, which is a compound of the elements "rod" meaning "fame" and "ulfr" meaning "wolf". Thus, the name Rolfe can be interpreted as "famous wolf" or "wolf of renown".
This name was widely used among the Viking communities in Scandinavia and parts of Northern Europe during the 8th to 11th centuries. It was particularly popular among the Norse settlers who colonized parts of England and Scotland after the 9th century. The name was later adopted and anglicized by the English-speaking populations in these regions.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Rolfe can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which mentions a person named Rolfe who was a prominent landowner in Norfolk, England, in the late 11th century. Another early reference is in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists several individuals with the name Rolfe or Rolf among the landholders in various parts of England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the first name Rolfe. One of the most famous was John Rolfe (1585-1622), an English settler in Virginia who is best known for being the husband of Pocahontas, the daughter of the Native American chief Powhatan. John Rolfe played a significant role in establishing the tobacco industry in the Virginia Colony.
Another well-known Rolfe was Sir Robert Rolfe (1585-1622), an English courtier and politician who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk and held several important positions in the court of King James I. In the field of literature, Rolfe Humphries (1894-1969) was an American poet, translator, and critic who is particularly known for his translations of ancient Greek and Latin works.
In the world of sports, Rolfe Haas (1905-1996) was a German-American ice hockey player who competed in the 1932 Winter Olympics and later coached the United States Olympic ice hockey team. Rolfe Wormhoudt (1915-1976) was a Norwegian-American athlete who won a gold medal in sailing at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the first name Rolfe throughout history, showcasing its enduring popularity and historical significance across various cultures and contexts.
People
Rolfe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rolfe 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
Rolfe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rolfe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 247 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rolfe 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 1,387,669 US residents.
Is Rolfe a common name?
We classify Rolfe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 543 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rolfe most popular?
The single biggest year for Rolfe was 1955, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rolfe is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Rolfe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rolfe 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.
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.