Roshanna
A feminine name likely derived from Latin meaning "little rose".
Name Census estimates that about 157 living Americans carry the first name Roshanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roshanna today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roshanna births was 1983 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roshanna. 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.
People living today
157
~ 1 in 2,183,149 Americans
Peak year
1983
13 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2002 SSA rank
#15,019
Tracked since 1969
Census
Roshanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173 people with the first name Roshanna, which placed it at #41,949 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
#41,949
National first-name rank
People counted
173
173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roshanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshanna is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Roshanna 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 Roshanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American75.7% · 131
- White12.1% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 11
- Two or more races3.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Roshanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roshanna from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 91 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roshanna 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 Roshanna 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 Roshanna
The name Roshanna is of Persian origin, derived from the combination of the Persian words "rosh" meaning "light" and "anna" meaning "grace" or "favor." It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period in the region that is now modern-day Iran.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Roshanna can be found in the epic Persian poem, the Shahnameh, written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century. The poem mentions a character named Roshanna, though details about her significance are scarce.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Roshanna. One of the earliest was Roshanna Arzani (1230-1298), a Persian physician and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of medicine during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable figure was Roshanna Begum (1615-1670), a Mughal princess and the daughter of Emperor Jahangir. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her influence in the Mughal court.
In the 19th century, Roshanna Kaur (1825-1890) was a prominent Sikh warrior and political leader who played a crucial role in the Sikh resistance against the British Empire in the Punjab region.
Moving into the 20th century, Roshanna Shamshiri (1920-2005) was an Iranian artist and sculptor renowned for her intricate sculptures and her contribution to the modernist art movement in Iran.
Finally, Roshanna Hamid (1946-present) is a contemporary Iranian-American writer and academic who has published several novels and works of non-fiction exploring themes of identity, culture, and the Iranian diaspora experience.
While the name Roshanna may not be as common in modern times, its rich history and cultural significance in the Persian world have ensured that it remains a cherished name with deep roots and a storied past.
People
Roshanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roshanna 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
Roshanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roshanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 157 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roshanna 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 2,183,149 US residents.
Is Roshanna a common name?
We classify Roshanna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 167 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roshanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Roshanna was 1983, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roshanna is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roshanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173 people with the name Roshanna, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,949 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 Roshanna 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 Roshanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roshanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 180 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Roshanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshanna is Black at 75.7%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Hispanic (6.4%). 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 Roshanna most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Roshanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (131 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 Roshanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roshanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roshanna 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 Roshanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roshanna 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 Roshanna 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 Roshanna?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.