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Rowland

#5,796 in 2025Boys' name

Fame-land, through Roland

Rowland has been given to 4,279 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #5,796 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1917, with 90 recorded.

Babies named Rowland, 2025

1 in 207,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rowland: meaning, origin, and history

Fame-land, through Roland

Germanic languages

What Rowland means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Rowland is used in English. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Roland.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Rowland is pronounced /ˈɹəʊlənd/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,279 boys were recorded with the name Rowland between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 90 in 1917; its best national rank was #500 in 1903.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,187 in 2020 to #5,796 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,017 in 2015 to #5,796 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Rowland?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 207,000
16 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 107,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,796
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
143,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Rowland 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 143,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rowland. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rowlands were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rowland was born before 1942 — so the typical Rowland is around 83 today.

Median birth year
1942
About 83 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
16.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.1%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,767
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 16.8% of all recorded uses (721).

Is Rowland 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
+326
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−609
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−779
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.84×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
17.8%
Peak was 1917 (90)
Years since peak
108
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#500
1903

Spellings of Rowland

Rowland is not the most common spelling — Roland is, with 47.6% against Rowland's 2.0%.

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 Rowland is used

Across 1910–2025, Rowland was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 120,688 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 50,000
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 50,000
  3. 3California1 in 100,000
  4. 4Michigan1 in 100,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 100,000
  6. 6Ohio1 in 100,000
  7. 7Virginia1 in 100,000
  8. 8Arkansas1 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. Rowland has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Rowland around the world

Where Rowland 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
    1996–2025
    #3,256
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    1944–1998
    #534
    in 1998

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Rowland

People whose public names include Rowland, 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.

Rowland by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,796
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 609
Best rank ever
#500
1903
Peak year
1917
90 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,279
Count in 2025
16

Names similar to Rowland

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

WaylandLeelandHollandHarlandRowdyRollandRowenOaklandCortlandZealandNormandCourtlandArlandNolandGarlandRaylandRylandLeilandRowynNeylandCopelandArmandBertrandFerdinand

Names with a curve like Rowland

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

ObieLonzoHowellGarnettReynoldAlvisLlewellynCarletonGilesIvyBertrandAdolphus

Sibling names for Rowland

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 Rowland

Top names of 1917, Rowland's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1903Boys' names starting with R