Rourke
A Latinate given name of Irish origin meaning "reddish-brown" or "ruddy complexion".
Name Census estimates that about 341 living Americans carry the first name Rourke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rourke today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rourke births was 2012 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rourke. 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 Rourke with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
341
~ 1 in 1,005,145 Americans
Peak year
2012
17 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,799
Tracked since 1978
Census
Rourke in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 364 people with the first name Rourke, which placed it at #25,851 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
#25,851
National first-name rank
People counted
364
364 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rourke
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rourke is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Rourke 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 Rourke at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.1% · 306
- Two or more races6.3% · 23
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 21
- Black or African American1.4% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Rourke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rourke from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 125 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Rourke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rourke 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 Rourke 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 Rourke
The name Rourke is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic surname Ó Ruairc, which means "descendant of Ruarc". Ruarc was a personal name of Irish-Gaelic origin, likely meaning "red king" or "red champion". The name can be traced back to the early medieval period in Ireland, around the 9th or 10th century.
The surname Ó Ruairc was prominent among the ruling families of the medieval Kingdom of Breifne, located in what is now County Leitrim, Ireland. The Ó Ruairc clan was known for their involvement in various conflicts and power struggles with other Irish clans and the Anglo-Norman invaders during the 12th and 13th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Tighernan Ua Ruairc, who was the King of Breifne from 1166 to 1172. He is mentioned in the Annals of Ulster and other Irish historical records for his battles against the Anglo-Normans and his role in the conflict over the High Kingship of Ireland.
Another notable historical figure with the name Rourke was Donal Oge O'Rourke, who lived in the 15th century and was the Lord of West Breifne. He is recorded as having fought against the English forces in Ireland and was involved in various conflicts with other Irish clans.
In the 16th century, Brian O'Rourke, also known as Brian na Samhthach ("Brian of the Straw Breed"), was a prominent member of the O'Rourke clan and played a significant role in the Nine Years' War against English rule in Ireland.
Over the centuries, the name Rourke has been used by various individuals, including the Irish writer and artist Constance Rourke (1885-1941), who was known for her works on American folklore and culture. Another notable bearer of the name was the American actor Mickey Rourke (born 1952), known for his roles in films such as "Sin City" and "The Wrestler".
While the name Rourke has its origins in Ireland and was historically associated with the Gaelic clan of the same name, it has since been adopted and used in various parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with Irish diaspora communities.
People
Rourke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rourke 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
Rourke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rourke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 341 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rourke 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 1,005,145 US residents.
Is Rourke a common name?
We classify Rourke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rourke most popular?
The single biggest year for Rourke was 2012, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rourke is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rourke in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 364 people with the name Rourke, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,851 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 Rourke 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 Rourke?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rourke leans strongly male. 343 people counted with this name were male (93.7%), compared with 23 female bearers (6.3%). 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 Rourke?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rourke is White at 84.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Rourke most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rourke in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.1% (306 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 Rourke in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rourke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rourke 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 Rourke still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rourke 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 Rourke 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 have Rourke as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.