Rosamund
A feminine Germanic name meaning "horse protector" or "rose of the world".
Name Census estimates that about 190 living Americans carry the first name Rosamund. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rosamund today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rosamund births was 2017 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rosamund. 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 Rosamund with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
190
~ 1 in 1,803,970 Americans
Peak year
2017
26 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,858
Tracked since 1951
Census
Rosamund in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 262 people with the first name Rosamund, which placed it at #32,242 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
#32,242
National first-name rank
People counted
262
262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rosamund
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosamund is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) 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 Rosamund 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 Rosamund at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 176
- Black or African American19.1% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 12
- Two or more races4.2% · 11
Popularity
Rosamund: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rosamund from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 102 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rosamund 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 Rosamund during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rosamunds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rosamund
The name Rosamund is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "hros" meaning "horse" and "mund" meaning "protection." It is a compound name that can be translated to "horse protector" or "protector of horses." The name dates back to the early medieval period in Europe.
In the 11th century, the name Rosamund was recorded in England as the name of the mistress of King Henry II. She was a beautiful woman known as the "Rose of the World" or "Fair Rosamund." According to legend, Rosamund lived in a labyrinth at Woodstock Palace, where she was ultimately discovered and killed by Henry's jealous wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
During the Middle Ages, the name Rosamund was also used in various literary works and poems, further contributing to its popularity. One notable example is the 13th-century romance "Tristan and Iseult," where Rosamund is mentioned as a character.
Over the centuries, several notable historical figures have borne the name Rosamund. One of them was Rosamund de Clifford (1150-1176), the mistress of King Henry II of England, who was mentioned earlier. Another was Rosamund Swinburne (1796-1857), an English writer and artist.
In the 16th century, Rosamund Tudor (1558-1600) was an English noblewoman and the granddaughter of King Henry VIII. She was considered a potential heir to the English throne but died at a young age.
Rosamund Purcell (born 1942) is a contemporary American photographer and writer known for her work on natural history and its intersections with art and literature.
Rosamund Pike (born 1979) is a British actress who has appeared in films such as "Pride & Prejudice," "Gone Girl," and "A Private War." She received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in "Gone Girl."
Throughout history, the name Rosamund has retained its connection to its Germanic roots and has been associated with beauty, literature, and nobility. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, it has remained a distinctive and evocative name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Rosamund + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rosamund 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
Rosamund: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rosamund?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rosamund 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 1,803,970 US residents.
Is Rosamund a common name?
We classify Rosamund as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 193 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rosamund most popular?
The single biggest year for Rosamund was 2017, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rosamund is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rosamund in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 262 people with the name Rosamund, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,242 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 Rosamund 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 Rosamund?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosamund appears almost entirely female. Of the 268 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Rosamund?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosamund is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Black (19.1%) 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 Rosamund most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rosamund in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (176 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 Rosamund in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rosamund a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rosamund 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 Rosamund still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rosamund 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 Rosamund 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 Rosamund?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Rosamund, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.