Romain
Of French origin, meaning "citizen of Rome".
Name Census estimates that about 368 living Americans carry the first name Romain. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Romain today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Romain births was 1990 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Romain. 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 Romain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
368
~ 1 in 931,398 Americans
Peak year
1990
14 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,162
Tracked since 1911
Census
Romain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,206 people with the first name Romain, which placed it at #10,861 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
#10,861
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,206 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Romain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Romain is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Black (34.2%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Romain 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 Romain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.6% · 658
- Black or African American34.2% · 412
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 60
- Two or more races3.2% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Romain
Out of the 539 babies given the name Romain since 1880, 99.1% 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.
Romain as a male name
- Ranked #13,790 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (14 births)
Romain as a female name
- Ranked #5,162 in 1929
- 5 female births in 1929
- Peak: 1929 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Romain leans strongly male. 1,121 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 84 female bearers (7.0%).
Popularity
Romain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Romain from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Romain remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Romain 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 Romain 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 Romain
The given name Romain has its origins in the Late Latin and Old French languages. It is derived from the Roman name Romanus, which means "Roman" or "of Roman descent." The name itself can be traced back to the ancient city of Rome and the Roman Empire, where it was used to denote a connection to the Roman people and their culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Romain can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. He mentioned a Roman senator named Romanus who played a role in the political intrigues of his time. The name was also used by early Christian saints, such as St. Romain of Auxerre, a 5th-century bishop in modern-day France.
During the Middle Ages, the name Romain became more widespread throughout Europe, particularly in France, where it was popular among the nobility. One notable figure was Romain Le Preux, a French knight who fought in the Crusades in the 12th century. Another was Romain de Villeneuve, a 13th-century French troubadour and poet.
In the Renaissance period, Romain gained further prominence with individuals like Romain Groleau, a 16th-century French architect who worked on several notable buildings in Paris. Later, in the 17th century, the name was borne by Romain Rolland, a French philosopher and Nobel Prize winner in literature.
Other notable individuals with the name Romain include Romain Vincy, a 19th-century French explorer and naturalist, and Romain Gary, a 20th-century French novelist and diplomat who was born in 1914 and died in 1980. Romain Puertolas, a Spanish-born French singer and actor, was also a prominent figure of the 20th century, living from 1924 to 2021.
Throughout its long history, the name Romain has maintained its connection to the Roman heritage and culture, serving as a reminder of the enduring influence of the ancient Roman civilization on the Western world.
People
Romain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Romain 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
Romain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Romain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Romain 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 931,398 US residents.
Is Romain a common name?
We classify Romain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 539 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Romain most popular?
The single biggest year for Romain was 1990, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Romain is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Romain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,206 people with the name Romain, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,861 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 Romain 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 Romain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Romain leans strongly male. 1,121 people counted with this name were male (93.0%), compared with 84 female bearers (7.0%). 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 Romain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Romain is White at 54.6%. The next largest groups are Black (34.2%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Romain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Romain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.6% (658 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 Romain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Romain a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Romain 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 Romain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Romain 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 Romain 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 the name Romain?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.