Rosaleen
Feminine · “little rose”
Rosaleen is Ireland. James Clarence Mangan's poem Dark Rosaleen, published in 1846, addresses the country as a woman under that name — a translation of an older Irish song in which Roisin Dubh, little dark rose, stands for Ireland itself. The poem was memorised by generations of Irish schoolchildren. Its American peak is 1927.
How old is the name Rosaleen?
Rosaleen first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Rosaleen alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 800 people named Rosaleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rosaleen most popular?
Rosaleen peaked in 1927, reaching #1619 nationally. Today it ranks #6325, 4,706 places below that high. See the whole 1927 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rosa to Rosaleen
The story of Rosaleen
Roisin Dubh is a political song of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century in which Ireland is addressed as a beloved woman — a device used to write about the country under English rule without saying so. Mangan's 1846 translation, Dark Rosaleen, made it famous in English and it became one of the best-known poems in the Irish nationalist canon. The name spread with the Irish revival of the late nineteenth century and traveled with emigration. American records show Rosaleen peaking in 1927, and Roisin has become common in Ireland again since the 1970s.
Meaning
little rose
Irish Roisin is the diminutive of ros, 'rose', formed with the -in ending that Irish uses for diminutives. English rendered that ending as -een — the same anglicization that gives colleen, from cailin, 'girl', and shebeen. So Rosaleen is the English spelling of an Irish diminutive of a Latin word. Every step is documented.
How the name formed
- rosa
- Roisin
- Rosaleen
Related forms: Roisin · Rosalene · Rosaline
Pronouncing Rosaleen
ROH-zuh-leen
Three syllables, stress on the first, with a long e at the end. The Irish Roisin is said roh-SHEEN, with a sh sound the English spelling loses entirely — the two are the same name and sound quite different.
Nicknames for Rosaleen
High
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 201951 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1619reached in 1927
- Change vs 2023
- −14.3%18 in 2025, from 21
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.
Rosaleen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Roisin in Irish — related form
- Rosalene in English — spelling variant
- Rosaline in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Rosaleens among us
people named Rosaleen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 89,293 born in 2025 was named Rosaleen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ezell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rosaleen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ezell climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ezell's path sketches the road Rosaleen is walking now.
Rosaleen 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
Rosaleen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rosaleen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Rose and Rosie are both universally understood short forms.
- The meaning is a single concrete image and easy to explain.
- It carries a genuine and substantial place in Irish literary history.
- The Irish original is pronounced quite differently from this spelling.
- Rosaleen, Rosalene and Rosalyn all circulate and are easily confused.
- Its American curve is 1920s, which places a bearer's generation.
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What they receive
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Rosaleen
Feminine · #6325 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rosaleens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Rosaleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rosaleen in 2025?
- Rosaleen ranks #6325 among US girl names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rosaleen?
- About 1 in every 89,293 US girls born in 2025 was named Rosaleen — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rosaleen with classmates?
- Rosaleen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rosaleen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaye#6325 · Doria#6325 · Karolyn#6325 · Roni#6325 · Darian#6325 · Svetlana#6325 · Yessenia#6325 · Fanny#6325
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rosaleen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rosaleen and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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