Roma
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "woman from Rome".
Name Census estimates that about 3,428 living Americans carry the first name Roma. It is a predominantly female name (93.5% of registrations). The average person named Roma today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roma births was 1930 (184 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roma. 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 Roma with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 99,987 Americans
Peak year
1930
184 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,686
Tracked since 1883
Census
Roma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,221 people with the first name Roma, which placed it at #3,796 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
#3,796
National first-name rank
People counted
5.2K
5,221 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roma is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.1%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Roma 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 Roma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.5% · 2,897
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.1% · 1,156
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 489
- Black or African American9.0% · 470
- Two or more races3.4% · 178
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Roma
Roma leans heavily female at 93.5% of total registrations, but 568 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Roma as a male name
- Ranked #12,014 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (19 births)
Roma as a female name
- Ranked #1,686 in 2024
- 121 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1930 (174 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roma leans strongly female. 4,811 people counted with this name were female (92.1%), compared with 411 male bearers (7.9%).
Popularity
Roma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roma from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,551 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Roma remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roma 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 Roma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Romas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Roma, while Arizona, Washington, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 105 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roma
The name Roma has its origins in the ancient Italic languages of the Italian peninsula, specifically in the Osco-Umbrian linguistic branch. It is derived from the word "Roma," which was the name of the city that eventually became the capital of the Roman Empire. The city itself was likely named after the Etruscan word "ruma," meaning "teat" or "breast," referring to the geography of the Seven Hills upon which the city was built.
Roma was not a commonly used personal name in ancient Roman times, as it was primarily associated with the city itself and its personification as a goddess. However, the name gained popularity during the Renaissance period, particularly in Italy and other parts of Europe influenced by the classical revival and renewed interest in Roman culture and history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Roma as a personal name can be found in the 12th century, when it was borne by the Italian noblewoman Roma Crivelli. Another notable early bearer of the name was Roma Petronilla, a 15th-century Italian painter and miniaturist active in the court of the Duke of Ferrara.
In the realm of literature, the name Roma appeared in the works of the 16th-century Italian poet Torquato Tasso, who used it as a symbolic representation of the eternal city in his epic poem "Gerusalemme Liberata" (Jerusalem Delivered).
Throughout history, several notable individuals have been named Roma. These include Roma Acton (1825-1901), an Italian-born English educator and writer; Roma Wilson (1910-1980), a British lawyer and academic who served as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; and Roma Downey (born 1960), an Irish actress and producer best known for her role in the TV series "Touched by an Angel."
In the world of music, Roma Zvarich (born 1925) was a Ukrainian-born American opera singer and vocal teacher, while Roma Acorn (1925-2009) was a Canadian singer, actress, and comedian. Additionally, Roma Downey's husband, Mark Burnett (born 1960), is a British-born American television producer known for shows like "Survivor" and "The Voice."
People
Roma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roma 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
Roma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,428 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roma 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 99,987 US residents.
Is Roma a common name?
We classify Roma as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,711 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roma most popular?
The single biggest year for Roma was 1930, when 184 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roma is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,221 people with the name Roma, or 1.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,796 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 Roma 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 Roma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roma leans strongly female. 4,811 people counted with this name were female (92.1%), compared with 411 male bearers (7.9%). 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 Roma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roma is White at 55.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.1%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Roma most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.5% (2,897 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 Roma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roma a female name?
Yes, 93.5% of people registered as Roma 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.
Is Roma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roma 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 Roma 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 have Roma as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Roma on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.