Roxy
A feminine diminutive of the name Roxanne or Roxana, of Persian origin meaning "dawn".
Name Census estimates that about 2,899 living Americans carry the first name Roxy. It is a predominantly female name (97.4% of registrations). The average person named Roxy today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roxy births was 2009 (145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roxy. 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 Roxy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Roxy is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 103 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 118,232 Americans
Peak year
2009
145 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
1953 SSA rank
#3,204
Tracked since 1882
Census
Roxy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,573 people with the first name Roxy, which placed it at #4,977 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
#4,977
National first-name rank
People counted
3.6K
3,573 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Roxy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roxy is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.7%) and Black (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 Roxy 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 Roxy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.8% · 2,173
- Hispanic or Latino23.7% · 846
- Black or African American5.9% · 211
- Two or more races4.5% · 161
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 114
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 68
Gender
Gender distribution for Roxy
Roxy leans heavily female at 97.4% of total registrations, but 103 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Roxy as a male name
- Ranked #3,382 in 1953
- 7 male births in 1953
- Peak: 1928 (9 births)
Roxy as a female name
- Ranked #3,204 in 2024
- 50 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (145 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roxy leans strongly female. 3,447 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 133 male bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Roxy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roxy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 834 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Roxy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roxy 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 Roxy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Roxys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Roxy, while South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roxy
The name Roxy is a diminutive form of the name Roxana, which has its origins in the Persian language. Roxana was the name of the wife of Alexander the Great, who lived in the 4th century BC. The name is derived from the Persian word "rokshen," meaning "bright" or "shining."
Roxana was a princess of the ancient Bactrian kingdom, which is now part of modern-day Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. She married Alexander the Great in 328 BC and gave birth to his son, Alexander IV. Roxana's name was recorded in various ancient Greek and Roman historical texts, including the works of Plutarch and Arrian.
The name Roxy first appeared as a diminutive form of Roxana in the 16th century. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Roxy is Roxy Durand, a French actress born in 1572. Another notable bearer of the name was Roxy Mosley, an English actress born in 1650.
In the 18th century, Roxy became a popular name in the United States, particularly among Puritan families. One of the most famous historical figures with the name was Roxy Paine, an American sculptor born in 1966, known for her large-scale installations and sculptures made from everyday materials.
Other notable individuals named Roxy throughout history include Roxy Music, an English rock band formed in 1971, whose name was inspired by the name Roxy, and Roxy Hart, the lead character in the musical "Chicago," which premiered on Broadway in 1975.
Another famous bearer of the name was Roxy Roker, an American actress and civil rights activist born in 1928, best known for her role as Helen Willis on the television series "The Jeffersons." Roxy Shihada, a Palestinian-American singer and songwriter born in 1989, is also a notable contemporary figure with this name.
People
Roxy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roxy 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
Roxy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roxy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,899 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roxy 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 118,232 US residents.
Is Roxy a common name?
We classify Roxy as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roxy most popular?
The single biggest year for Roxy was 2009, when 145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roxy 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 Roxy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,573 people with the name Roxy, or 1.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,977 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 Roxy 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 Roxy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Roxy leans strongly female. 3,447 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 133 male bearers (3.7%). 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 Roxy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Roxy is White at 60.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.7%) and Black (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 Roxy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Roxy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (2,173 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 Roxy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Roxy a female name?
Yes, 97.4% of people registered as Roxy 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 Roxy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Roxy 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 Roxy 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 Roxy?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.