Rochele
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "ewe" or "little lamb".
Name Census estimates that about 450 living Americans carry the first name Rochele. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rochele today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rochele births was 1972 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rochele. 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.
People living today
450
~ 1 in 761,676 Americans
Peak year
1972
22 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1998 SSA rank
#12,115
Tracked since 1950
Census
Rochele in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Rochele, which placed it at #20,655 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
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rochele
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rochele is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) 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 Rochele 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 Rochele at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.0% · 279
- Black or African American25.3% · 126
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 30
- Two or more races4.0% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
Popularity
Rochele: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rochele from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 156 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Rochele remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rochele 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 Rochele during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rocheles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Rochele
The name Rochele appears to be a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Rachel, which dates back to Biblical times. Rachel was a prominent figure in the Old Testament, described as the beloved wife of the patriarch Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
The name Rachel likely derives from the Hebrew word "ra'ah," meaning "ewe" or female sheep. This connection to sheep suggests that the name may have originated among ancient Israelite shepherding communities, possibly as a reference to fertility or gentleness.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rachel appears in the Book of Genesis, where she is introduced as the beautiful younger daughter of Laban. Her story is intertwined with that of her husband Jacob, who worked for Laban for many years to earn her hand in marriage.
Beyond its Biblical roots, the name Rachel has been used throughout Jewish history and has been borne by several notable figures. One example is Rachel Akerman (1522-1545), a Jewish woman from Krakow, Poland, who was executed after being falsely accused of desecrating a consecrated host.
In the realm of literature, the name Rachel features prominently in the works of William Shakespeare. In his play "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Rachel is mentioned as a symbol of beauty and virtue. Additionally, Rachel is the name of a character in Jane Austen's novel "Persuasion."
Other notable historical figures named Rachel include Rachel Crothers (1878-1958), an American playwright and theatre director, and Rachel Carson (1907-1964), the renowned American marine biologist and author of the influential book "Silent Spring," which helped launch the modern environmental movement.
While the spelling "Rochele" is less common, it likely emerged as a variant through transliteration from Hebrew or other languages, or through regional pronunciation differences. Regardless of the spelling, the name retains its connection to the Biblical figure and its enduring cultural significance within the Jewish tradition.
People
Rochele + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rochele 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
Rochele: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rochele?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rochele 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 761,676 US residents.
Is Rochele a common name?
We classify Rochele as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 512 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rochele most popular?
The single biggest year for Rochele was 1972, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rochele is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rochele in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Rochele, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 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 Rochele 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 Rochele?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rochele appears almost entirely female. Of the 490 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Rochele?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rochele is White at 56.0%. The next largest groups are Black (25.3%) 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 Rochele most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rochele in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.0% (279 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 Rochele in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rochele a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rochele 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 Rochele still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rochele 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 Rochele 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 Rochele?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.