Romaine
Romaine is a feminine given name of French origin meaning "pilgrim from Rome".
Name Census estimates that about 1,434 living Americans carry the first name Romaine. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Romaine today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Romaine births was 1928 (107 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Romaine. 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 Romaine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Romaine was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 239,020 Americans
Peak year
1928
107 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,783
Tracked since 1887
Census
Romaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,157 people with the first name Romaine, which placed it at #7,147 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
#7,147
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Romaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Romaine is Black at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (41.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Romaine 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 Romaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.3% · 1,064
- White41.5% · 896
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 82
- Two or more races2.2% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 24
Gender
Gender distribution for Romaine
Romaine is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,118 total registrations, 982 (23.8%) were male and 3,136 (76.2%) were female.
Romaine as a male name
- Ranked #8,783 in 2023
- 9 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1932 (22 births)
Romaine as a female name
- Ranked #14,858 in 1991
- 5 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1928 (91 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Romaine on both sides of the split. Of the 2,146 people counted with this name, 856 were male (39.9%) and 1,290 were female (60.1%).
Popularity
Romaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Romaine 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 920 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Romaine 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 Romaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Romaines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan recorded the most babies named Romaine, while North Carolina, Minnesota, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 109 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Romaine
The name Romaine has its origins in the French language and can be traced back to the Latin word 'Romanus', which means 'Roman' or 'from Rome'. This name has a rich history that spans several centuries and cultures.
In ancient times, the name Romaine was closely associated with the Roman Empire and its influence. It was a popular name among the Roman nobility and upper classes, who took pride in their connection to the city of Rome and its rich cultural heritage.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Romaine can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, who mentioned a Roman soldier named Romaine in his work 'Annals'. This suggests that the name was in use during the 1st century AD.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Romaine remained popular in parts of Europe that had been under Roman influence. It was particularly common in areas that are now part of France, Italy, and Spain.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Romaine was Romaine de Tillet, a French scholar and theologian who lived from 1487 to 1562. He was a prominent figure during the Renaissance period and played a significant role in the reform movements within the Catholic Church.
Another notable individual with the name Romaine was Romaine-Joseph Taschereau, a Canadian cardinal who lived from 1820 to 1898. He served as the Archbishop of Quebec and was a influential figure in the Catholic Church in Canada during the 19th century.
In the world of literature, the name Romaine is associated with Romaine Brooks, an American painter and writer who lived from 1874 to 1970. She was known for her portraiture and her memoir, 'No Pleasant Memories', which detailed her life as a expatriate in Europe.
Romaine Fielding, an American actress who lived from 1892 to 1969, is also a notable figure with this name. She had a successful career in silent films and vaudeville productions during the early 20th century.
The name Romaine continued to be used throughout the 20th century, although it became less common in many parts of the world. One notable modern figure with this name was Romaine Patterson, an American jazz singer and actress who was active in the 1940s and 1950s.
People
Romaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Romaine 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
Romaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Romaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,434 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Romaine 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 239,020 US residents.
Is Romaine a common name?
We classify Romaine as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Romaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Romaine was 1928, when 107 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Romaine is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Romaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,157 people with the name Romaine, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,147 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 Romaine 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 Romaine?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Romaine on both sides of the split. Of the 2,146 people counted with this name, 856 were male (39.9%) and 1,290 were female (60.1%). 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 Romaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Romaine is Black at 49.3%. The next largest groups are White (41.5%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Romaine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Romaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.3% (1,064 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 Romaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Romaine a female name?
Yes, 76.2% of people registered as Romaine 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 Romaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Romaine 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 Romaine 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 Romaine?
Want to know how many people share the name Romaine? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.