Roba
A feminine Arabic name meaning "the green grass after rain".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Roba. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roba today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roba births was 1992 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roba. 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 Roba with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Roba. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1992
6 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1992 SSA rank
#12,975
Tracked since 1927
Census
Roba in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 236 people with the first name Roba, which placed it at #34,545 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
#34,545
National first-name rank
People counted
236
236 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roba
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roba is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (33.5%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Roba 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 Roba at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.5% · 138
- Black or African American33.5% · 79
- Two or more races5.1% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
Popularity
Roba: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roba from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roba 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 Roba 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 Roba
The name Roba is of Arabic origin and can be traced back to the medieval period. It is derived from the Arabic word "ribat," which translates to "fortress" or "fortified dwelling." This name was likely given to individuals who lived or worked in such fortified structures during the Islamic Golden Age, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Roba can be found in the historical chronicles of the Umayyad Caliphate, which ruled a vast territory spanning from the Iberian Peninsula to Central Asia between the 7th and 8th centuries. During this time, several individuals named Roba were mentioned as notable figures, though their specific roles and accomplishments remain obscure.
In the 9th century, an influential Muslim scholar and jurist named Roba ibn Nasr al-Bukhari gained recognition for his contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence and hadith literature. He was born in the city of Bukhara, which was part of the Abbasid Caliphate, and his works were widely circulated throughout the Islamic world.
The name Roba also appeared in various literary works and poetic compositions during the medieval period. For instance, a renowned poet from Andalusia, Roba ibn Abdulrahman al-Qurtubi, who lived in the 11th century, was celebrated for his skill in crafting intricate verses and his mastery of the Arabic language.
In the 12th century, a prominent physician and philosopher named Roba ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, made significant contributions to the field of medicine and philosophy. Born in Persia, his seminal works, such as "The Canon of Medicine," were widely studied and translated into multiple languages, influencing the development of medical knowledge in both the Islamic and European worlds.
Another notable figure bearing the name Roba was a 14th-century Sufi mystic and poet from the Indian subcontinent, Roba Masud. His spiritual verses and teachings had a profound impact on the Sufi tradition and inspired many followers and devotees across South Asia.
Over the centuries, the name Roba has continued to be used in various Arabic-speaking regions, although its popularity has waned in recent times. Despite its diminished usage, the name remains a testament to the rich cultural heritage and historical significance of the Arabic-Islamic world.
People
Roba + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roba 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
Roba: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roba?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roba 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Roba a common name?
We classify Roba as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roba most popular?
The single biggest year for Roba was 1992, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roba is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roba in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 236 people with the name Roba, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,545 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 Roba 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 Roba?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Roba on both sides of the split. Of the 246 people counted with this name, 77 were male (31.3%) and 169 were female (68.7%). 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 Roba?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roba is White at 58.5%. The next largest groups are Black (33.5%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Roba most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roba in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.5% (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 Roba in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roba a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roba 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 Roba still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roba 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 Roba 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 Roba?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.