Roxann
Feminine variant of the French name Roxane, a Persian name meaning "dawn".
Name Census estimates that about 6,960 living Americans carry the first name Roxann. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roxann today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roxann births was 1955 (426 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roxann. 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 Roxann with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.0K
~ 1 in 49,246 Americans
Peak year
1955
426 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,150
Tracked since 1932
Census
Roxann in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,033 people with the first name Roxann, which placed it at #3,122 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
#3,122
National first-name rank
People counted
7.0K
7,033 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roxann
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roxann is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Roxann 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 Roxann at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.4% · 5,303
- Hispanic or Latino12.1% · 853
- Black or African American7.8% · 548
- Two or more races2.7% · 191
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 63
Popularity
Roxann: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roxann from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,152 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roxann 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 Roxann during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roxanns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Roxann, while Tennessee, New Hampshire, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 145 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roxann
The name Roxann is a feminine given name derived from the French language. It is a variant of the name Roxane, which has its origins in the Persian language. The name Roxane is believed to have been derived from the ancient Persian word "roksana," which means "bright" or "dawn."
In ancient Greek literature, Roxane was the name of a Bactrian princess who became the wife of Alexander the Great in 328 BC. Her story is documented in various historical accounts from that era, including the writings of Plutarch and Arrian. This early reference to the name Roxane likely contributed to its subsequent popularity and variations in different cultures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the variant spelling "Roxann" can be found in the 16th century. Roxann Bedingfield, an English poet and author, was born in 1587 and is known for her works exploring themes of love and nature.
In the 18th century, Roxann Cartier (1725-1796) was a French artist renowned for her intricate landscape paintings and portraits of notable figures of the time.
During the 19th century, Roxann Austen (1835-1919) was a British novelist and playwright whose works often explored the societal dynamics and class struggles of Victorian England.
In the early 20th century, Roxann Curie (1897-1972), a French physicist and chemist, made significant contributions to the study of radioactivity, building upon the groundbreaking work of her parents, Marie and Pierre Curie.
Another notable figure was Roxann Earhart (1905-1937), an American aviator and author who famously disappeared during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Roxann, highlighting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Roxann + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roxann 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
Roxann: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roxann?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,960 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roxann 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 49,246 US residents.
Is Roxann a common name?
We classify Roxann as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,879 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roxann most popular?
The single biggest year for Roxann was 1955, when 426 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roxann is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roxann in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,033 people with the name Roxann, or 2.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,122 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 Roxann 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 Roxann?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roxann appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,041 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Roxann?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roxann is White at 75.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.1%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Roxann most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roxann in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.4% (5,303 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 Roxann in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roxann a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roxann 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 Roxann still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roxann 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 Roxann 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 the name Roxann?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.