Roland

Where Roland comes from

From Old French, from Frankish *Hrōþiland (literally “fame-land”). Name of a paladin of Charlemagne in medieval French romance. Doublet of Orlando.
— Wiktionary's entry for Roland
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #280 among boys — 36 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1915
    Roland Barthes born
    French philosopher and essayist
  3. 1924
    Peak, #98
    1,822 babies named Roland — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1955
    Roland Emmerich born
    German filmmaker
  5. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #238.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Roland Barthes · French philosopher and essayist, 1915–1980
  • Roland Emmerich · German filmmaker, born 1955
  • Roland · Frankish knight, 737–778
  • Roland Garros · Reunionese aviator, 1888–1918
  • Roland Freisler · German jurist and politician, 1893–1945

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.