Rosanna
A feminine name of Italian origin meaning "little rose".
Name Census estimates that about 10,330 living Americans carry the first name Rosanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Rosanna today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rosanna births was 1982 (492 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rosanna. 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 Rosanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
10K
~ 1 in 33,180 Americans
Peak year
1982
492 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
1985 SSA rank
#2,259
Tracked since 1880
Census
Rosanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,915 people with the first name Rosanna, which placed it at #1,985 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
#1,985
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,915 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rosanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosanna is White at 48.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Rosanna 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 Rosanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.3% · 6,717
- Hispanic or Latino35.4% · 4,928
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 1,203
- Black or African American4.6% · 637
- Two or more races1.9% · 271
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 159
Gender
Gender distribution for Rosanna
Out of the 14,577 babies given the name Rosanna since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Rosanna as a male name
- Ranked #6,378 in 1985
- 6 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1985 (6 births)
Rosanna as a female name
- Ranked #2,259 in 2024
- 83 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (492 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,916 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Rosanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rosanna from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 3,216 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rosanna 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 Rosanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rosannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Rosanna, while Utah, Mississippi, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 243 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rosanna
Rosanna is a feminine given name with origins in the Latin language. It is a combination of the Latin words "rosa," meaning rose, and "anna," a variant of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning grace or favor. The name rose to prominence during the Middle Ages in parts of Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain.
In the early Christian era, the name Rosanna gained religious significance, as the rose became a symbol of the Virgin Mary in Catholic iconography. It was adopted by devout families as a way to honor the Mother of Christ and express their devotion to the faith.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rosanna can be found in the 12th century, when it was borne by Rosanna of Villeneuve, a French noblewoman who lived from around 1180 to 1246. She was known for her piety and charitable works, and was later canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
In the Renaissance period, the name Rosanna became more widely used across Europe, particularly in Italy. One notable figure was Rosanna Capponi, an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, who lived from 1472 to 1529. She was known for her influential role in the cultural and intellectual life of Florence during the Renaissance.
During the 17th century, the name Rosanna was popular among Spanish and Portuguese families, often given to daughters born on the feast day of Saint Rose of Lima, the first Catholic saint of the Americas, who lived from 1586 to 1617.
In the 19th century, the name Rosanna gained popularity in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. One notable bearer of the name was Rosanna Osterman, an American actress and singer who lived from 1847 to 1922. She was a prominent figure in the early days of vaudeville and musical theater.
Another famous Rosanna was Rosanna Leprohon, a Canadian novelist and poet who lived from 1829 to 1879. She was a pioneering figure in French-Canadian literature and is considered one of the first notable female writers in Canada.
Throughout history, the name Rosanna has been borne by many other notable figures, including Rosanna Arquette, an American actress born in 1959, and Rosanna Davison, an Irish model, author, and former Miss World, born in 1984.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Rosanna
People
Rosanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rosanna 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
Rosanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rosanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,330 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rosanna 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 33,180 US residents.
Is Rosanna a common name?
We classify Rosanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,577 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rosanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Rosanna was 1982, when 492 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rosanna is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rosanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,915 people with the name Rosanna, or 4.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,985 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 Rosanna 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 Rosanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rosanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 13,916 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 Rosanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rosanna is White at 48.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (35.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.6%). 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 Rosanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rosanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.3% (6,717 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 Rosanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rosanna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rosanna 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 Rosanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rosanna 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 Rosanna 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 Americans are named Rosanna?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.