Rosana
Feminine
Roxana was a Bactrian noblewoman who married Alexander in 327 BC. Her name is Old Iranian raoxsna, shining, the same root as the Persian word for light. After his death she had his other widow killed, bore his posthumous son, and was murdered with the boy thirteen years later when he became inconvenient.
How old is the name Rosana?
Rosana first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Rosana alive today was born around 1978, making them about 47 years old. About 2,100 people named Rosana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rosana most popular?
Rosana peaked in 1885, reaching #1047 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,813 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Where it comes from
From Rosa to Rosana
The story of Rosana
Roxana was the daughter of a Bactrian nobleman whose fortress Alexander took in 327 BC, and the marriage was political as well as personal: it secured the eastern satrapies. After Alexander died in Babylon in 323 she was pregnant, and the empire's commanders spent the next decades destroying each other and his family. She arranged the death of Stateira, Alexander's Persian wife. Her son was born and proclaimed joint king as a baby, kept as a figurehead by successive regents, and in 310 both mother and son were killed on Cassander's orders. Her name survives because Greek writers recorded it, and it is genuinely Iranian: the raoxsna element is the same one behind the modern Persian word for light and the name Roshan. Whether it lies behind the Spanish Rosana is doubtful but not impossible.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Rosana is most likely a Spanish compound of Rosa, a rose, and Ana, from Hebrew channah, favor. It may alternatively be a form of Roxana, from Old Iranian raoxsna, shining or bright, borne by the wife of Alexander the Great. The two are unrelated and have converged in spelling. It peaks in the American data in 1885.
How the name formed
- Rosa
- Rosana
Related forms: Rosana · Rosana · Roseanne
Pronouncing Rosana
roh-SAH-nah
Three syllables, stress on the second. English speakers say roh-ZAN-ah with a voiced s and a short stressed vowel, which Spanish does not.
Nicknames for Rosana
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 198378 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1047reached in 1885
- Change vs 2023
- +37.5%11 in 2025, from 8
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.
Rosana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rosana in Spanish — same name
- Rosana in Portuguese — same name
- Roseanne in English — related form
Rosanas among us
people named Rosana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Rosana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Rosana
- #8860
- Rosana on the 2025 chart
- #891
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Rosana went to 11 girls in 2025, but Rosanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 69, which makes it the 891st most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,969 places above the chart.
- Rosanna58
- Rosana11
About 1 girl in 23,294 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Rosana itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Rosana 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
Rosana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rosana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both elements of the Spanish reading are complete names.
- Rosa and Ana are two very different short forms.
- The rhythm is even and easy to say.
- Roseanne and Rosanna are near neighbors and more common in English.
- English and Spanish read the s differently.
- The Roxana reading is possible but not likely.
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Rosana
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rosanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Rosana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Rosana?
- Rosana is one of 2 recorded spellings. Rosanna is the more common one — 58 births in 2025 against 11 for Rosana.
- How popular is the name Rosana in 2025?
- Rosana ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rosana?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Rosana — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rosana with classmates?
- Rosana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rosana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rosana? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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