Roye
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning "red-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Roye. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Roye today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roye births was 1943 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roye. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Roye is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Royes were born before 1958.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Roye. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
1943
13 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1970 SSA rank
#5,308
Tracked since 1910
Census
Roye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Roye, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roye is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Roye 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 Roye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.0% · 138
- Black or African American26.5% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 17
- Two or more races3.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Roye
Roye is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 205 total registrations, 162 (79.0%) were male and 43 (21.0%) were female.
Roye as a male name
- Ranked #5,308 in 1970
- 5 male births in 1970
- Peak: 1923 (9 births)
Roye as a female name
- Ranked #5,909 in 1949
- 5 female births in 1949
- Peak: 1944 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Roye on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 169 were male (73.5%) and 61 were female (26.5%).
Popularity
Roye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roye from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 73 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roye 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 Roye 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 Roye
The name Roye has its roots in the French language and culture, originating in the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a variant of the name Roy, which was derived from the Old French word "roi," meaning "king."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Roye can be found in the chronicles of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled over the Franks from the 5th to the 8th century. The name was borne by several minor nobles and landowners during this period, although its exact origins and meanings remain obscure.
In the 12th century, the name Roye gained prominence as it was associated with the town of Roye in northern France. This connection suggests that the name may have been used as a locational surname, referring to individuals who hailed from or held lands in the vicinity of Roye.
One notable figure in history who bore the name Roye was Jean de Roye, a 15th-century French chronicler and historian. Born in the early 1400s, he authored several works documenting the events of his time, including the "Chronique Scandaleuse" and the "Mémoires sur les Règnes de Charles VI et Charles VII."
Another historical figure with the name Roye was Gilles de Roye, a 16th-century French nobleman and military leader. He fought in the Italian Wars and later served as the governor of the city of Arras. De Roye was born around 1520 and died in 1586.
In the realm of literature, the name Roye was immortalized by the French poet and playwright Pierre de Ronsard. In his collection of love sonnets, "Les Amours," Ronsard dedicated a poem to a woman named Marie de Roye, whom he admired from afar. Ronsard lived from 1524 to 1585.
Another notable bearer of the name Roye was Louis de Roye, a 17th-century French painter and engraver. Born in 1672, he was renowned for his portraits and allegorical works, and his art can be found in various museums and collections across Europe.
In the 19th century, the name Roye was associated with Charles Roye, a French historian and writer. Born in 1825, he authored several works on the history of France and its various regions, including "Histoire de la Ville et des Seigneurs de Commercy" and "Histoire de la Ville et des Environs d'Epernay."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Roye throughout history, reflecting its French origins and associations with nobility, literature, and the arts.
People
Roye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roye 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
Roye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roye 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Roye a common name?
We classify Roye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 205 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roye most popular?
The single biggest year for Roye was 1943, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roye is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Roye, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Roye 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 Roye?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Roye on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 169 were male (73.5%) and 61 were female (26.5%). 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 Roye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roye is White at 60.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Roye most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.0% (138 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 Roye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roye a male name?
Yes, 79.0% of people registered as Roye 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 Roye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roye 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 Roye 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 are called Roye?
You can see how many people have the name Roye on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.