Rorey
A unisex name possibly derived from the name Rory, meaning "red king".
Name Census estimates that about 236 living Americans carry the first name Rorey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Rorey today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rorey births was 2013 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rorey. 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 Rorey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
236
~ 1 in 1,452,349 Americans
Peak year
2013
17 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,984
Tracked since 1983
Census
Rorey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 308 people with the first name Rorey, which placed it at #28,952 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
#28,952
National first-name rank
People counted
308
308 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rorey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rorey is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Rorey 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 Rorey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.3% · 201
- Black or African American16.9% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 25
- Two or more races5.8% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Rorey
Rorey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 239 total registrations, 142 (59.4%) were male and 97 (40.6%) were female.
Rorey as a male name
- Ranked #13,799 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (10 births)
Rorey as a female name
- Ranked #11,984 in 2021
- 8 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2010 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rorey on both sides of the split. Of the 309 people counted with this name, 188 were male (60.8%) and 121 were female (39.2%).
Popularity
Rorey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rorey from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 109 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rorey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rorey 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 Rorey 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 Rorey
The given name Rorey is believed to have its origins in the Old English language, emerging in the medieval period around the 7th to 11th centuries. It is likely derived from the Old English word "rōr," meaning "famous" or "renowned," and the suffix "-ey," which was commonly used to denote a diminutive or endearing form of a name. This suggests that Rorey may have initially been a nickname or pet name bestowed upon individuals with a reputation for fame or accomplishment.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rorey can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Rori," referring to a landowner or tenant in the region of Berkshire. This provides evidence of the name's use in England during the late 11th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Rorey appeared sporadically in various historical records and chronicles. In the 13th century, a Rorey de Winchelsea was mentioned as a prominent merchant and ship owner in the coastal town of Winchelsea, East Sussex. This suggests that the name was in use among the mercantile class during this period.
During the Renaissance era, a notable figure bearing the name Rorey was Rorey de Montfort, a French nobleman who served as a military commander and advisor to King Charles VII of France in the 15th century. He played a significant role in the French victory over the English during the latter stages of the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, Rorey Ballantyne was a Scottish writer and historian who authored several works on the history and genealogy of Scottish noble families. His most notable work, "The Ballantyne Manuscript," is considered an important source of information on Scottish clans and lineages.
Another historical figure with the name Rorey was Rorey Whitfield, an English writer and poet who lived in the 17th century. He is best known for his collection of poems titled "The Poetical Blossoms of Rorey Whitfield," published in 1659, which explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality.
While the name Rorey has been relatively uncommon throughout history, it has maintained a presence, particularly in English-speaking regions, and has been carried by individuals from various backgrounds and professions. This diverse range of historical figures demonstrates the enduring nature of this unique and intriguing given name.
People
Rorey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rorey 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
Rorey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rorey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 236 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rorey 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 1,452,349 US residents.
Is Rorey a common name?
We classify Rorey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rorey most popular?
The single biggest year for Rorey was 2013, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rorey is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rorey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 308 people with the name Rorey, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,952 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 Rorey 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 Rorey?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rorey on both sides of the split. Of the 309 people counted with this name, 188 were male (60.8%) and 121 were female (39.2%). 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 Rorey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rorey is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Rorey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rorey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.3% (201 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 Rorey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rorey a male name?
Yes, 59.4% of people registered as Rorey 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 Rorey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rorey 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 Rorey 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 common is the name Rorey?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Rorey at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.