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Roland vs Rolyn

American parents have registered 101,191 Rolands since 1880, against 23 Rolyns. Roland is still ahead, with 466 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Roland Rolyn

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 2021, when Roland had 405 and Rolyn had 5.

Side by side

  Roland Rolyn
Total US births 101,19123
Most in one year 1,8348
Babies in 2025 466under 5
Estimated living today 46,00016
Median age today 585
Peak year 19241936
Best rank 98th boys2,629th boys
Rank in 2025 607thunranked
First recorded 18801936
Girls / boys 362 / 100,8290 / 23

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 Rolands alive today are over 58; half the Rolyns are over 5. That is 53 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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