Roll

Boys' name

Fame-land, through Roland

Roll has been given to 5 babies in the U.S. since 1881. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1881, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Roll, 1881

1 in 38,500

Roll over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Roll: meaning, origin, and history

Fame-land, through Roland

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Roll means

Roll belongs to the name family reached through Roll → Roland. Its meaning is “fame-land”.

Origin, language, and formation

Roll is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Roland.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Roll between 1881 and 1881. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1881; its best national rank was #979 in 1881.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Roll?

Roll had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1881, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1881: 1 in 38,500; 5 of 192,680 births
Among boys only: 1 in 20,100; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1881: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 26,712 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Roll 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 1881 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 26,712 children born in 1881 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Roll. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rolls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Roll was born before 1881 — so the typical Roll is around 144 today.

Median birth year: 1881; About 144 years old
Biggest decade: 1880s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1880s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Roll 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1881 (5)
Years since peak: 144; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #979; 1881

Spellings of Roll

Roll is not the most common spelling — Roy is, with 26.9% against Roll's <0.01%.

Roy26.9%408,638
Joel18.4%279,655
Bill10.6%160,474
Cole10.1%154,093
Raul5.8%88,040
Ross5.4%81,872
Noel3.4%52,096
Will3.0%45,952

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.

Roll by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #979; 1881
Peak year: 1881; 5 that year
First recorded: 1881
Last recorded: 1881
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Roll

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

Roly Rolph Rollon Roley Rolston Rolyn Rolman Doll Knoll Nikoll Rolandas Rolen Rolley Rolin Rolly Rolanda Rollyn Karroll Driscoll Rollo Rolan Rolondo Rolf Rollan

Sibling names for Roll

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

For a sister

Lulu Maud Bess Maude Meta Hulda Golda Lauretta

For a brother

Garfield Grover Dewey Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield Dorsey

Explore around Roll

Top names of 1881, Roll's peak year The 1880s in full Other names that peaked in 1881 Boys' names starting with R