Roswell
Masculine · “Old English hros and wella”
Roswell, New Mexico is named after a man's first name. Van C. Smith, who founded the settlement in the early 1870s, named it for his father Roswell Smith. The most famous town in the history of flying saucers carries an ordinary nineteenth-century given name.
How old is the name Roswell?
Roswell was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Roswell alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 400 people named Roswell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roswell most popular?
Roswell peaked in 1891, reaching #386 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 9,328 places below that high. See the whole 1891 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hros to Roswell
The story of Roswell
Van C. Smith was a gambler and entrepreneur who acquired two adobe buildings on the Pecos in 1869 and applied for a post office in 1873, naming the place after his father, Roswell Smith. The name was in ordinary use in nineteenth-century America as a given name, mostly in New England families, and derives from an English surname and place name. The town would have remained obscure had a rancher not found debris on a field north-west of it in June 1947, and had the local air base not issued a press release referring to a flying disc before retracting it the next day. The incident was largely forgotten for thirty years and revived by books from the late 1970s onward. So the word Roswell now means something in every language on earth, and it began as one American's father's first name.
Meaningscholars disagree
Old English hros and wella, horse spring
Roswell is an English place name and surname, generally explained from Old English elements meaning horse and spring or stream, though a personal name Rot has also been proposed for the first element. The American town in New Mexico was named in the 1870s after the father of its founder. The peak of the given name is 1891.
How the name formed
- hros
- Roswell
Related forms: Rosswell
Pronouncing Roswell
ROZ-wel
Two syllables, stress on the first. The s is said as a z. The town and the name are said identically.
Nicknames for Roswell
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191948 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #386reached in 1891
- Change vs 2023
- −12.5%7 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.
Roswell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rosswell in English — spelling variant
Roswells among us
people named Roswell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Roswell
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
Roswell 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
Roswell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roswell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ros works as a short form.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- It is a genuine English surname with a documented history.
- The New Mexico town dominates recognition entirely.
- It reads as a surname.
- The 1891 peak places it well before the association.
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Roswell
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Roswells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Roswell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Roswell in 2025?
- Roswell ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roswell?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Roswell — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roswell with classmates?
- Roswell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roswell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Roswell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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