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Rolf

#13,492 in 2025Boys' name

Fame + wolf, through Hrólfr

Rolf has been given to 3,103 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #13,492 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1960, with 96 recorded.

Babies named Rolf, 2025

1 in 663,000

Rolf over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rolf: meaning, origin, and history

Fame + wolf, through Hrólfr

Germanic languages

What Rolf means

Rolf belongs to the name family reached through Rolf → Hrólfr. Its meaning is “fame + wolf”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Old Norse Hrólfr, and from its Old French equivalent, cognates of Rudolph. Brought to England by the Normans, survived in surnames and was revived in the 19th century, partly due to its modern Scandinavian cognate.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Rolf (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Rolf is used in English, Danish, German, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Rolf comes through Old Norse Hrólfr.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rudolf, Rolv and Hrólfr.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Rolf is pronounced /ɹɒlf/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,103 boys were recorded with the name Rolf between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 96 in 1960; its best national rank was #780 in 1960.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #11,728 in 2020 to #13,492 in 2025.

How common is Rolf?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#13,492
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rolf sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rolf. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rolfs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rolf was born before 1953 — so the typical Rolf is around 72 today.

Median birth year
1953
About 72 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
21.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
1.6%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,777
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 21.4% of all recorded uses (663).

Is Rolf rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,433
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,764
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
5.2%
Peak was 1960 (96)
Years since peak
65
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#780
1960

Spellings of Rolf

Rolf is not the most common spelling — Roy is, with 48.6% against Rolf's 0.37%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Rolf is used

Across 1910–2025, Rolf was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 66,101 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

08 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 12,500
  2. 2New York1 in 33,333
  3. 3Illinois1 in 50,000
  4. 4Wisconsin1 in 50,000
  5. 5California1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Dakota1 in 100,000
  7. 7Washington1 in 100,000
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Rolf has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rolf around the world

Where Rolf ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • Scotland
    1980–1980
    #305
    in 1980
  • Ireland
    1970–1970
    #305
    in 1970
  • France
    1907–1979
    #2,619
    in 1979
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #417
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    1944–1988
    #476
    in 1988

Popularity data from National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Notable people named Rolf

People whose public names include Rolf, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Rolf in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Rolf. Linked forms have their own page here.

RolfeRolloRolvRolfo

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Rolf by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#13,492
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,764
Best rank ever
#780
1960
Peak year
1960
96 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,103
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Rolf

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

RollieRolanWolfRolloRollinRollyRollaRolinRolenRollandRolfeAdolfRudolfRollinsRolandoRolandRollenRoldanRollanRandolfRollynRolynRoleyRolondo

Names with a curve like Rolf

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Rolf, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JameSalDellLennieDennieLawranceDuwayneDwaineDavieWallyLenArnie

Sibling names for Rolf

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Rolf

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