Rowley

Boys' name

Variant of Roly

Rowley has been given to 57 babies in the U.S. since 2008. 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 2024, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Rowley, 2024

1 in 334,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rowley: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Roly

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rowley means

Rowley is a variant of Roly.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Rowley is used in English.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Rowley → Roly → Roland. The family’s meaning is “fame-land”, recorded in English with the source elements Hrōþiland.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Roly.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 57 boys were recorded with the name Rowley between 2008 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2024; its best national rank was #8,196 in 2024.

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 Rowley?

Rowley had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024: 1 in 334,000; 10 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only: 1 in 172,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 231,706 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Rowley 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 2024 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 231,706 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rowley. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rowleys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rowley was born before 2016 — so the typical Rowley is around 9 today.

Median birth year: 2016; About 9 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 43.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 57; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 43.9% of all recorded uses (25).

Is Rowley 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 2024 (10)
Years since peak: 1; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 50.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #8,196; 2024

Spellings of Rowley

Rowley is not the most common spelling — Rodney is, with 64.0% against Rowley's 0.01%.

Rodney64.0%247,150
Riley27.2%105,025
Rowen2.1%8,169
Rowdy1.3%4,980
Conley1.1%4,061
Ryley1.00%3,856
Coley0.53%2,029
Radley0.41%1,597

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.

Rowley around the world

Where Rowley 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
2008–2023
#3,524
in 2023
South Australia
1949–1959
#464
in 1959

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.

Rowley 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: #8,196; 2024
Peak year: 2024; 10 that year
First recorded: 2008
Last recorded: 2024
All-time count: 57
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Rowley

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

Valley Rownan Rowell Moxley Wadley Rhyley Mosley Rowoon Bensley Crowley Motley Rowin Fynnley Rowdey Burkley Knoxley Rigley Oxley Paisley Walley Baxley Wensley Denley Keeley

Sibling names for Rowley

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

Noah Alianna Xochitl Leonor Elina Malka Eleni Emerie

For a brother

Jeremias Bjorn Kylo Evans Shimon Shlomo Tadeo Creed

Explore around Rowley

Top names of 2024, Rowley's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 2024 Boys' names starting with R