Roshell
A feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning, possibly a variant spelling.
Name Census estimates that about 541 living Americans carry the first name Roshell. It is a predominantly female name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Roshell today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roshell births was 1971 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roshell. 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
541
~ 1 in 633,557 Americans
Peak year
1971
27 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1976 SSA rank
#6,310
Tracked since 1947
Census
Roshell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 597 people with the first name Roshell, which placed it at #18,138 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
#18,138
National first-name rank
People counted
597
597 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roshell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshell is Black at 74.5%. The next largest groups are White (13.9%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Roshell 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 Roshell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.5% · 445
- White13.9% · 83
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 35
- Two or more races2.7% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Roshell
Roshell leans heavily female at 98.0% of total registrations, but 12 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Roshell as a male name
- Ranked #6,310 in 1976
- 5 male births in 1976
- Peak: 1975 (7 births)
Roshell as a female name
- Ranked #19,868 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1971 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roshell leans strongly female. 557 people counted with this name were female (92.5%), compared with 45 male bearers (7.5%).
Popularity
Roshell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roshell from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 186 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roshell 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 Roshell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roshells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Roshell
The given name Roshell is a relatively modern invention with no definitive historical origins. It appears to be a combination of the more common names Rose and Shelly, potentially blending elements of French and English naming traditions.
One of the earliest documented instances of the name Roshell can be traced back to the late 19th century in parts of the United States. A Roshell Jennings was born in 1887 in Mississippi, though little else is known about this individual. The name remained exceedingly rare throughout the early 20th century.
It was not until the mid-20th century that the name gained a slight uptick in popularity, likely influenced by the rise of unique and unconventional name choices during this era. Roshell Faircloth, an American artist born in 1921, was one of the more notable individuals to bear the name during this time period.
In literature, the name Roshell made an appearance in the 1964 novel "The Confessions of Nat Turner" by William Styron, where a minor character was given the name. This may have contributed to a small increase in the name's usage in the following years.
Roshell Williams, born in 1948, was a successful American businesswoman and entrepreneur who founded a successful hair care product line catering to African American women. Her accomplishments brought some recognition to the name in the latter half of the 20th century.
Another individual of note was Roshell Hunter, an American singer and actress born in 1956. She had a brief but noteworthy career in the entertainment industry, appearing in several films and television shows in the 1970s and 1980s.
While the name Roshell has never achieved widespread popularity, it has maintained a niche presence throughout the 20th century and into the present day, likely appealing to those seeking a unique and distinctive name for their children.
People
Roshell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roshell 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
Roshell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roshell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 541 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roshell 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 633,557 US residents.
Is Roshell a common name?
We classify Roshell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 605 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roshell most popular?
The single biggest year for Roshell was 1971, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roshell is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Roshell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 597 people with the name Roshell, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,138 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 Roshell 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 Roshell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roshell leans strongly female. 557 people counted with this name were female (92.5%), compared with 45 male bearers (7.5%). 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 Roshell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roshell is Black at 74.5%. The next largest groups are White (13.9%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Roshell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Roshell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (445 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 Roshell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roshell a female name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Roshell 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 Roshell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roshell 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 Roshell 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 Roshell?
Want to know how many Americans are named Roshell? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.