Rosario
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "rosary" or "garland of roses".
Name Census estimates that about 11,482 living Americans carry the first name Rosario. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Rosario today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rosario births was 1993 (218 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rosario. 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 Rosario with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rosario started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 29,851 Americans
Peak year
1993
218 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,707
Tracked since 1896
Census
Rosario in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,969 people with the first name Rosario, which placed it at #1,117 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
#1,117
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
36,969 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rosario
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosario is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and White (7.7%). 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 Rosario 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 Rosario at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.3% · 30,060
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.1% · 3,716
- White7.7% · 2,852
- Black or African American0.5% · 179
- Two or more races0.3% · 103
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 59
Gender
Gender distribution for Rosario
Rosario is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 16,476 total registrations, 5,592 (33.9%) were male and 10,884 (66.1%) were female.
Rosario as a male name
- Ranked #5,001 in 2024
- 20 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (140 births)
Rosario as a female name
- Ranked #2,707 in 2024
- 64 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (175 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosario leans strongly female. 31,699 people counted with this name were female (85.7%), compared with 5,274 male bearers (14.3%).
Popularity
Rosario: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rosario from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,902 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rosario 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 Rosario during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rosarios live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Rosario, while Virginia, Ohio, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 491 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rosario
The name Rosario has its origins in Latin, derived from the word "rosarium," which means "rose garden" or "garland of roses." It is a name deeply rooted in Christian religious tradition and symbolism.
The name gained widespread popularity during the Middle Ages in Europe, particularly in areas with strong Catholic influence, such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is believed to have been initially used as a descriptive name for churches or chapels adorned with rose decorations or dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is often associated with the rose symbolism.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Rosario can be found in the 13th century work "Legenda Aurea" (Golden Legend) by Jacobus de Voragine, a collection of hagiographies that recounts the lives of saints. The text mentions the use of rosaries, which were strings of beads used for counting prayers, particularly the repetition of Hail Marys.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Rosario. One of the most famous was Saint Rosario Livatino, an Italian judge and martyr who was assassinated by the Sicilian Mafia in 1990 for his unwavering commitment to justice. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.
Another prominent figure was Rosario Castellanos, a Mexican poet, novelist, and diplomat, born in 1925. She was a pioneering voice for indigenous rights and feminism in Mexico, and her works explored themes of identity, gender, and social injustice.
In the realm of music, Rosario Bourdon was a renowned Canadian operatic soprano who gained international acclaim in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was particularly known for her interpretations of French and Italian operas.
The name Rosario also holds significance in the history of education. Rosario Castellanos was a renowned Spanish educator and philosopher who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. She was a pioneer in advocating for the education of women and is considered one of the first feminist thinkers in Spain.
Lastly, Rosario Candela was an influential Italian-American architect who played a significant role in shaping the iconic skyline of New York City in the early 20th century. He designed many prestigious residential buildings in Manhattan, including several along Park Avenue and Central Park West.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rosario
People
Rosario + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rosario 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
Rosario: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rosario?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,482 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rosario 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 29,851 US residents.
Is Rosario a common name?
We classify Rosario as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,476 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rosario most popular?
The single biggest year for Rosario was 1993, when 218 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rosario is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rosario in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,969 people with the name Rosario, or 12.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,117 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 Rosario 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 Rosario?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosario leans strongly female. 31,699 people counted with this name were female (85.7%), compared with 5,274 male bearers (14.3%). 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 Rosario?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosario is Hispanic at 81.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (10.1%) and White (7.7%). 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 Rosario most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Rosario in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.3% (30,060 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 Rosario in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rosario a female name?
Yes, 66.1% of people registered as Rosario 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 Rosario still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rosario 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 Rosario 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 share the name Rosario?
You can see how many Americans are named Rosario on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.