Rollo
A Germanic masculine name meaning "famous wolf" or "famous warrior".
Name Census estimates that about 246 living Americans carry the first name Rollo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rollo today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rollo births was 1918 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rollo. 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 Rollo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
246
~ 1 in 1,393,310 Americans
Peak year
1918
38 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,614
Tracked since 1881
Census
Rollo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 309 people with the first name Rollo, which placed it at #28,877 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
#28,877
National first-name rank
People counted
309
309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rollo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rollo is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Rollo 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 Rollo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.1% · 232
- Black or African American12.6% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 16
- Two or more races3.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 3
Popularity
Rollo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rollo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 222 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
Rollo 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 Rollo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rollos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Illinois, Michigan, Iowa recorded the most babies named Rollo, while Iowa, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rollo
The name Rollo has its origins in the Old Norse language, tracing back to the Viking era in Scandinavia. It is derived from the Old Norse name "Rólf," which is a contracted form of the words "hróðr" meaning "fame" and "ulfr" meaning "wolf." The name can be interpreted as "famous wolf" or "renowned warrior."
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Rollo was Rollo the Viking, also known as Rolf the Ganger or Rollon, who lived from around 846 to 932 AD. He was a Norse Viking leader who became the first Duke of Normandy after successfully conquering parts of northern France. His descendants went on to become the ruling dynasty of Normandy and played a significant role in the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
Another early recorded use of the name Rollo can be found in the Orkneyinga Saga, a historical narrative from the 12th century that chronicles the history of the Earls of Orkney. The saga mentions a character named Rollo, who was a powerful jarl (earl) in the Orkney Islands during the late 9th century.
In the 13th century, a German knight named Rollo von Hochdorf was mentioned in various historical records, including the Codex Manesse, a renowned medieval German manuscript containing poems and illustrations of famous knights and nobles.
During the 16th century, an Italian painter named Rollo Marghinotti gained recognition for his religious artworks, particularly his altarpieces and frescoes in various churches across Italy.
In the 18th century, Rollo Gillespie was a Scottish military officer who served in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in 1766 and is remembered for his role in the Battle of Vellore in 1806, where he successfully suppressed a mutiny by Indian sepoys.
The name Rollo has been used throughout history, spanning different cultures and eras, and has been carried by various notable figures, from Vikings and nobles to artists and military leaders. Its origins can be traced back to the Old Norse language, reflecting the rich heritage of Scandinavian names and their association with fame, valor, and strength.
People
Rollo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rollo 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
Rollo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rollo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rollo 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 1,393,310 US residents.
Is Rollo a common name?
We classify Rollo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 940 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rollo most popular?
The single biggest year for Rollo was 1918, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rollo is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rollo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 309 people with the name Rollo, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,877 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 Rollo 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 Rollo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rollo leans strongly male. 300 people counted with this name were male (96.5%), compared with 11 female bearers (3.5%). 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 Rollo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rollo is White at 75.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Rollo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rollo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.1% (232 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 Rollo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rollo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rollo 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 Rollo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rollo 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 Rollo 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 share the name Rollo?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.