Rosalin
A feminine name derived from the Latin Rosa meaning "rose."
Name Census estimates that about 671 living Americans carry the first name Rosalin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rosalin today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rosalin births was 2022 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rosalin. 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 Rosalin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
671
~ 1 in 510,811 Americans
Peak year
2022
19 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,857
Tracked since 1914
Census
Rosalin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 970 people with the first name Rosalin, which placed it at #12,724 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
#12,724
National first-name rank
People counted
970
970 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
38.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rosalin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosalin is Hispanic at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (25.5%) and Black (21.1%). 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 Rosalin 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 Rosalin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino38.5% · 373
- White25.5% · 247
- Black or African American21.1% · 205
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.1% · 117
- Two or more races2.4% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Popularity
Rosalin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rosalin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 137 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rosalin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rosalin 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 Rosalin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rosalins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Illinois, New York recorded the most babies named Rosalin, while New York, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rosalin
The name Rosalin has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to the late Roman era. It is a combination of the Latin word "rosa," meaning rose, and the suffix "-lina," which denotes a diminutive form. The name essentially translates to "little rose" or "rosebud."
During the medieval period, the name gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions where Latin was widely used as a scholarly language. It was often bestowed upon children as a symbol of beauty, purity, and innocence, reflecting the cultural significance of roses in Christian traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rosalin can be found in the 12th-century French poem "Roman de la Rose," written by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. The central character, a personification of the ideal courtly lady, bears the name Rosalin.
In the 16th century, the name gained further recognition through the works of William Shakespeare. In his play "Love's Labour's Lost," he introduced the character Rosaline, a witty and intelligent young woman who captivates the affections of one of the male protagonists.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Rosalin include Rosalin de Beau (1399-1472), a French noblewoman and confidante of Joan of Arc, and Rosalin Gage (1892-1976), an American suffragist and women's rights activist.
Another prominent figure was Rosalin Franklin (1920-1958), a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose groundbreaking work on DNA structure laid the foundation for the discovery of its double helix form by Watson and Crick.
In the artistic realm, Rosalin Drexler (born 1926) is an American artist known for her vibrant pop art paintings and collages, while Rosalin Virji (born 1987) is a renowned British-Tanzanian sculptor and installation artist.
Throughout history, the name Rosalin has been associated with grace, beauty, and a connection to nature, reflecting the enduring symbolism of the rose across various cultures and time periods.
People
Rosalin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rosalin 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
Rosalin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rosalin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 671 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rosalin 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 510,811 US residents.
Is Rosalin a common name?
We classify Rosalin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 892 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rosalin most popular?
The single biggest year for Rosalin was 2022, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rosalin is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rosalin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 970 people with the name Rosalin, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,724 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 Rosalin 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 Rosalin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosalin appears almost entirely female. Of the 969 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Rosalin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosalin is Hispanic at 38.5%. The next largest groups are White (25.5%) and Black (21.1%). 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 Rosalin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Rosalin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.5% (373 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 Rosalin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rosalin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rosalin 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 Rosalin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rosalin 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 Rosalin 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 are named Rosalin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.