Rowland
Derived from Old English, meaning "famous land" or "land ruled by the famous one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,938 living Americans carry the first name Rowland. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rowland today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rowland births was 1917 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rowland. 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 Rowland with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 176,860 Americans
Peak year
1917
90 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,097
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rowland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,011 people with the first name Rowland, which placed it at #7,549 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
#7,549
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,011 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rowland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rowland is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Rowland 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 Rowland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.5% · 1,338
- Black or African American19.8% · 399
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 85
- Two or more races3.2% · 64
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 13
Popularity
Rowland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rowland from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 721 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rowland 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 Rowland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rowlands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Rowland, while Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rowland
The name Rowland is of Germanic origin, derived from the Old German words "hrod" meaning "fame" and "lant" meaning "land". It was initially spelled as "Rodland" or "Hrodland". The name is believed to have emerged around the 8th century AD, during the Carolingian period in Europe.
Rowland was a popular name among the Frankish nobility and ruling classes during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Carolingian dynasty's royal annals, where a nobleman named Rowland is mentioned as a trusted advisor to Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Carolingian Empire.
In the 12th century, the name gained further prominence with the legend of the French epic poem "The Song of Roland". The poem tells the story of a Frankish military leader named Roland, who fought alongside Charlemagne in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass against the Basque forces. Roland's bravery and valor in the face of death became a symbol of chivalry and courage.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures named Rowland. One of the most famous was Rowland Hill, an English teacher, and social reformer born in 1795. He is credited with introducing the Penny Post, a system that allowed for the pre-payment of postage using an adhesive stamp. His innovative idea revolutionized the postal system in Britain and beyond.
Another prominent Rowland was Rowland Vaughan, a 16th-century Welsh poet and author born in 1590. He is renowned for his literary works, including the book "The Golden Grove Moralized", which was widely popular during the English Renaissance period.
In the 20th century, Rowland Hussey Macy (1822-1877) was an American businessman and the founder of the renowned department store chain, Macy's. His innovative retail strategies and marketing techniques helped establish Macy's as a leading retailer in the United States.
Rowland Hill (1744-1833), an English minister and social reformer, was a pioneering advocate for the abolition of slavery and the promotion of education for the underprivileged. His efforts led to the establishment of several schools and the formation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Rowland Hilder (1905-1965) was a prominent English artist and book illustrator, renowned for his landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in Britain. His works captured the beauty and charm of the English countryside and remain highly celebrated to this day.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rowland
People
Rowland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rowland 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
Rowland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rowland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,938 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rowland 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 176,860 US residents.
Is Rowland a common name?
We classify Rowland as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rowland most popular?
The single biggest year for Rowland was 1917, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rowland is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rowland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,011 people with the name Rowland, or 0.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,549 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 Rowland 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 Rowland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rowland leans strongly male. 1,989 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 24 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Rowland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rowland is White at 66.5%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (5.6%). 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 Rowland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rowland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (1,338 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 Rowland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rowland a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rowland 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 Rowland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rowland 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 Rowland 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 Rowland as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Rowland, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.