Rosalind
Feminine
Rosalind looks like a beautiful rose and is not. The Germanic original pairs a horse with a serpent or a shield, and Spanish speakers reinterpreted it as rosa linda centuries later.
How old is the name Rosalind?
Rosalind first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Rosalind alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 18,500 people named Rosalind are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rosalind most popular?
Rosalind peaked in 1942, reaching #292 nationally. Today it ranks #1518, 1,226 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Where it comes from
From hros + lind to Rosalind
The story of Rosalind
Rosalinde was a Germanic name that reached Spain with the Visigoths and England with the Normans. Shakespeare gave it to the heroine of As You Like It around 1599 — a woman who spends most of the play in disguise as a man — and that fixed it in English literary memory. American use rose through the 1930s and peaked in the mid-1940s.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
From the Germanic hros, 'horse', and lind, which meant 'soft' or 'flexible' and also named the linden tree and, through shields made of its wood, a serpent in Norse imagery. The Spanish reading as rosa linda, 'pretty rose', is a folk etymology — attractive, widespread and not the origin.
How the name formed
- hros + lind
- Rosalinde
- Rosalind
Related forms: Rosalinda · Rosalinda · Rosalinde · Rosalyn
Pronouncing Rosalind
ROZ-uh-lind
Three syllables, stress on the first. Spanish Rosalinda has four with the stress on the third.
Nicknames for Rosalind
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 1961625 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #292reached in 1942
- Change vs 2022
- −10.8%140 in 2025, from 157
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.
Rosalind in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rosalinda in Spanish — related form
- Rosalinda in Italian — related form
- Rosalinde in German — related form
- Rosalyn in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Rosalinds among us
people named Rosalind are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,480 born in 2025 was named Rosalind
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 Alyce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rosalind's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alyce climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alyce's path sketches the road Rosalind is walking now.
Rosalind 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
Where Rosalind is headed
Rosalind should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Rosalind beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rosalind in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of Shakespeare's greatest heroines stands behind it.
- The gap between the real etymology and the folk one is a genuinely good story.
- Roz and Linda are two short forms that could hardly be more different.
- The 'pretty rose' reading everyone repeats is a folk etymology.
- It is period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Rosalind
Feminine · #1518 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rosalinds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,500 people named Rosalind are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rosalind in 2025?
- Rosalind ranks #1518 among US girl names in 2025, with 140 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rosalind?
- About 1 in every 11,480 US girls born in 2025 was named Rosalind — 140 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rosalind with classmates?
- Rosalind will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rosalind
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Winry#1518 · Clarke#1518 · Aritzel#1518 · Rylynn#1518 · Jannah#1518 · Rya#1518 · Finnley#1512 · Wilhelmina#1512
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rosalind? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rosalind and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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