Roma
Feminine · Latin roots · “Rome”
Roma is given to both — 8,286 girls and 576 boys since 1880. See Roma as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Roma is the name the city of Rome has always called itself — the word carved on Italian road signs and sung in Italian opera. It has been on American birth records since the nineteenth century, quietly and without interruption, and it also arrives from a second direction entirely: in Bengali, Roma is how the Sanskrit name Ramā is spoken. Two syllables, both open, ending on a vowel.
How old is the name Roma?
Roma first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Roma alive today was born around 1938, making them about 87 years old. About 3,800 people named Roma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roma most popular?
Roma peaked in 1911, reaching #493 nationally. Today it ranks #1493, 1,000 places below that high. See the whole 1911 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Roma (Latin, name of the city) to Roma
The story of Roma
Roma is the Latin and Italian form of the city's name, in continuous use for well over two millennia, and it entered English as a given name the way place names often do — carried by admiration, travel and immigration rather than by any single family line. It appears on American records from the late nineteenth century onward, and its early rise sits alongside a broader taste of that era for Italian and classical names. The Bengali road is separate and just as old: Ramā, one of the names of Lakshmi, is pronounced with an o-quality first vowel and so is routinely written Roma in the Latin alphabet. Both streams reach the same English spelling without ever having met.
Meaningscholars disagree
Rome, the city; in Bengali use, an epithet of the goddess Lakshmi
As an Italian name, Roma is simply the city — but the city's own etymology has never been settled. Roman legend tied it to Romulus; scholars have long proposed Etruscan Rumon, an old name for the Tiber, among other readings. Separately, Bengali speakers use Roma for Sanskrit Ramā, a name of Lakshmi built on a root meaning to please or delight. Same spelling, two independent sources.
How the name formed
- RomaLatin, name of the city
- RomaItalian
- RomaEnglish given name
Related forms: Roma · Roma · রমা (Romā) · Romana · Romina · Romana
Pronouncing Roma
ROH-mə
Stress on the first syllable. In Italian both vowels are full — ROH-mah — with a lightly tapped r; Bengali speakers give the first vowel a rounder o. English speakers rarely stumble, though some will first say it like the city in an Italian accent and then correct themselves.
Nicknames for Roma
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
- 1883
- Most girls named
- 1938163 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #493reached in 1911
- Change vs 2022
- +60.7%143 in 2025, from 89
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.
Roma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Roma in Italian — same name
- Roma in Spanish — same name
- রমা (Romā) in Bengali — transliteration
- Romana in Italian — related form
- Romina in Italian, Spanish — related form
- Romana in Czech, Polish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Texas.
Romas among us
people named Roma are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,240 born in 2025 was named Roma
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
Roma is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Roma is headed
Roma looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 36% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Roma beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roma in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and spelled exactly as it sounds — no correcting, no repeating over the phone.
- Already familiar worldwide as the name of a city, so nobody has to be taught the word.
- An unbroken presence on American birth records since the nineteenth century, with a clear upward turn now.
- Works unchanged in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and matches an established Bengali name.
- Roma is also the collective name of the Romani people, from Romani rom. Many readers will hear that first, and a Roma will occasionally be asked about it — worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by.
- It is unmistakably a city, so expect the standing question of whether she was named for Rome, plus the odd travel joke. Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 film Roma has added another association for some.
- Living Roma are concentrated among older generations, so it may read as a name from an earlier era to some ears — which is precisely what makes it available now.
- She will very likely be the only one in her school, which cuts both ways: no surname initial needed, but also no one who has heard it before.
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What they receive
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Roma
Feminine · Latin roots · #1493 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Romas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Roma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Roma in 2025?
- Roma ranks #1493 among US girl names in 2025, with 143 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roma?
- About 1 in every 11,240 US girls born in 2025 was named Roma — 143 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roma with classmates?
- Roma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roma
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Saroya#1493 · Zayna#1493 · Yashna#1493 · Memphis#1493 · Alyana#1493 · Nyari#1493 · Jenny#1500 · Zhuri#1500
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Roma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Roma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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