Rollo
Masculine · “Old Norse Hrolfr”
The Viking who took Normandy was called Hrolfr. History calls him Rollo, because the Latin chroniclers who recorded the treaty of 911 wrote him that way, and the Latin form is the only one anyone uses. His descendant in the sixth generation was William the Conqueror, so every English monarch since 1066 descends from a man whose actual name we do not use.
How old is the name Rollo?
Rollo first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Rollo alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 200 people named Rollo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rollo most popular?
Rollo peaked in 1881, reaching #706 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,537 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hrodulfr to Rollo
The story of Rollo
In 911 the Frankish king Charles the Simple made a treaty at Saint-Clair-sur-Epte with a Viking leader who had been raiding the Seine, granting him land at the mouth of the river in exchange for defending it against other Vikings. That grant is the origin of Normandy, whose name means the land of the north men. Rollo's followers took French wives, adopted the language within two generations and the Christian religion within one, and by the eleventh century the Normans were the most effective military power in Europe, conquering England, southern Italy and Sicily. The name Hrolfr survived in Norman French as Rou and in English as Ralph, and the Latin Rollo survived in books. It is a good example of a name existing in three simultaneous versions, of which the least authentic is the one history remembers.
Meaning
Old Norse Hrolfr, famous wolf
Rollo is the Latinized form of Old Norse Hrolfr, itself a contraction of Hrodulfr, from hrod, fame or glory, and ulfr, wolf. The same compound gives German Rudolf and English Ralph, which descends from the Norse form through Norman French. Rollo is the form used in medieval Latin chronicles and has been an English given name since the nineteenth century. It peaks in the American data in 1881.
How the name formed
- Hrodulfr
- Hrolfr
- Rollo
Related forms: Hrolfr · Ralph · Rudolf
Pronouncing Rollo
ROL-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first, short o. The final -o is a Latin case ending, not part of the Norse name, which ended in a consonant cluster English cannot easily begin: Hrolfr starts with an h before an r, a combination English lost a thousand years ago.
Nicknames for Rollo
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 191732 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #706reached in 1881
- Change vs 2023
- +80.0%9 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Rollo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hrolfr in Old Norse — same name
- Ralph in English — related form
- Rudolf in German — related form
Rollos among us
people named Rollo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Rollo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Rollo sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Rollo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rollo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the historical figure is well documented.
- It is short, memorable and easy to say.
- The link to Ralph and Rudolf is genuine and interesting.
- The Latin form is not what the man was actually called.
- It reads as either antique or comic to some American ears.
- It is rare enough to require spelling out.
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Rollo
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rollos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Rollo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rollo in 2025?
- Rollo ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rollo?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Rollo — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rollo with classmates?
- Rollo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rollo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rollo? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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