Roshad
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "righteous and upright".
Name Census estimates that about 237 living Americans carry the first name Roshad. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Roshad today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roshad births was 1979 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roshad. 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
237
~ 1 in 1,446,221 Americans
Peak year
1979
15 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,857
Tracked since 1979
Census
Roshad in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 224 people with the first name Roshad, which placed it at #35,741 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
#35,741
National first-name rank
People counted
224
224 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roshad
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshad is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and White (3.1%). 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 Roshad 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 Roshad at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American85.3% · 191
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 10
- White3.1% · 7
- Two or more races3.1% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Roshad: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roshad from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roshad 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 Roshad 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 Roshad
The name Roshad has its roots in the Arabic language and culture, originating from the word "rushd," which means guidance, righteousness, or being on the right path. This name gained popularity during the Islamic Golden Age, a period of significant cultural, economic, and scientific advancements in the medieval Islamic world.
The earliest records of the name Roshad can be traced back to the 8th century CE, when it was mentioned in various Islamic texts and historical records. One notable figure from this era was Roshad al-Tabari, a renowned Islamic scholar and historian who lived from 838 to 923 CE. His extensive work, "The History of Prophets and Kings," is considered a seminal text in the field of Islamic historiography.
During the 12th century, the name Roshad gained further prominence with the rise of the philosopher and polymath Averroes, whose full name was Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd. Born in 1126 CE in Cordoba, Spain, Averroes made significant contributions to various fields, including philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence. His works had a profound impact on Western philosophy and played a crucial role in the transmission of Aristotelian thought to Europe during the Renaissance period.
Another notable figure bearing the name Roshad was the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic, Roshad al-Din Samarkandi. Born in 1201 CE in Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan), he was renowned for his spiritual poetry and writings, which explored the mystic path and the union of the soul with the divine.
In the 14th century, the name Roshad was associated with the renowned Muslim scholar and traveler, Ibn Battuta. His full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta, and he was born in 1304 CE in Tangier, Morocco. Ibn Battuta is famous for his extensive travels across Africa, Asia, and Europe, documenting his observations and encounters in his famous travelogue, "The Rihla."
Another influential figure bearing the name Roshad was the 15th-century Ottoman scholar and jurist, Roshad Efendi. Born in 1457 CE in Bursa, Turkey, he served as the chief jurist (Kazasker) of Rumelia and played a significant role in shaping the legal system of the Ottoman Empire during his time.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who carried the name Roshad throughout history, each leaving a lasting impact in their respective fields and contributing to the rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world and beyond.
People
Roshad + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roshad 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
Roshad: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roshad?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 237 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roshad 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 1,446,221 US residents.
Is Roshad a common name?
We classify Roshad as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 244 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roshad most popular?
The single biggest year for Roshad was 1979, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roshad is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roshad in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 224 people with the name Roshad, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,741 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 Roshad 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 Roshad?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roshad leans strongly male. 215 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Roshad?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshad is Black at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and White (3.1%). 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 Roshad most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Roshad in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (191 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 Roshad in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roshad a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roshad 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 Roshad still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roshad 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 Roshad 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 have the name Roshad?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Roshad, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.