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Romulus

#4,509 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Romulus has been given to 454 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #4,509 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Romulus, 2025

1 in 144,000

Romulus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Romulus: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Romulus means

Romulus is a given name.

The naming story behind Romulus

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Romulus in its glossary. The entry labels it masculine and points to printed page(s) 178.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Lat. fame (?)”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Romulus, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 454 boys were recorded with the name Romulus between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 31 in 2024; its best national rank was #2,838 in 1912.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,995 in 2020 to #4,509 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #7,922 in 2015 to #4,509 in 2025.

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.

How common is Romulus?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 144,000
23 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 74,300
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,509
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
99,910 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Romulus 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 99,910 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Romulus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Romuluss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Romulus was born before 2007 — so the typical Romulus is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
28.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
57.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
354
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 28.6% of all recorded uses (130).

Is Romulus 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
−839
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+486
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+3,413
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.30×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
74.2%
Peak was 2024 (31)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,838
1912

Spellings of Romulus

Romulus is not the most common spelling — Romulo is, with 65.0% against Romulus's 35.0%.

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 Romulus is used

Across 1910–2025, Romulus was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,622,575 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2North Carolina1 in —
  3. 3New York1 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. Romulus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Romulus around the world

Where Romulus 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.

  • England & Wales
    2020–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • France
    1902–1988
    #2,642
    in 1988
  • South Australia
    2005–2005
    #643
    in 2005

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

Romulus by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,509
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 486
Best rank ever
#2,838
1912
Peak year
2024
31 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
454
Count in 2025
23

Names similar to Romulus

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

RomaineRomarioRomariRomuloAngelusRomanceRomenRomaniRomelloRomeloRomeyRomirRomellRommelRomelioRomeroRomualdoRomainRomynRommieRomelleRomarRomanoRomuald

Sibling names for Romulus

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 Romulus

Top names of 2024, Romulus's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1912Boys' names starting with RRoman Mythology Names