Meaning and history
Roland is a Germanic name derived from the Old German elements hruod, meaning “fame,” and lant, meaning “land,” though some theories suggest the second element was originally nand, meaning “brave.” It was borne by an 8th-century military commander under Charlemagne who was killed by the Basques at the Battle of Roncevaux and was recorded in Latin as Hruodlandus. His story was later greatly expanded in the 11th-century French epic La Chanson de Roland, which presents him as Charlemagne’s nephew slain in an ambush by the Saracens. The Normans introduced the name to England.
20062006: 265 births, rank #782
2007: 301 births, rank #743
2008: 296 births, rank #754
2009: 304 births, rank #752
2010: 290 births, rank #769
20112011: 302 births, rank #751
2012: 313 births, rank #740
2013: 360 births, rank #669
2014: 438 births, rank #610
2015: 471 births, rank #588
20162016: 510 births, rank #562
2017: 534 births, rank #530
2018: 514 births, rank #545
2019: 538 births, rank #532
2020: 490 births, rank #570
20212021: 405 births, rank #668
2022: 461 births, rank #608
2023: 414 births, rank #662
2024: 413 births, rank #663
20252025: 466 births, rank #607
Roland rose from #664 to #608 for boys between 2024 and 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1924, with 1,822 births.