Humanverse

Roland vs Rolayne

American parents have registered 101,191 Rolands since 1880, against 45 Rolaynes. Roland is still ahead, with 466 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Roland against Rolayne, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Roland Rolayne

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Roland has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1949, when Roland had 1,221 and Rolayne had 16.

Side by side

  Roland Rolayne
Total US births 101,19145
Most in one year 1,83416
Babies in 2025 466under 5
Estimated living today 46,00030
Median age today 5876
Peak year 19241948
Best rank 98th boys2,491st girls
Rank in 2025 607thunranked
First recorded 18801948
Girls / boys 362 / 100,82945 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Rolaynes alive today are over 76; half the Rolands are over 58. That is 18 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Roland and Rolayne.