Given name · also German
Rosalind
“horse”·“fame”
Rosalind has Germanic roots, a later rose association, and a Shakespearean heroine.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Rosalind is a form of Rose. The rose flower is one clear association. Proposed Germanic roots include words for “horse” or “fame,” so one explanation need not cover every historical use.
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
This spelling has been associated with German and English naming traditions. The precise derivation is uncertain.
How it developed
Its Germanic formation brings together hros (“horse”) and lind (“weak, tender, soft”). Rosalind is a form of Rose. The shared background comes through Rose: Rose may combine several histories: the flower word, its religious symbolism, and shortened Germanic compounds. Rose can also serve as a short form of longer Ros- names.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
The story
Edmund Spenser used Rosalind for a shepherdess, and Shakespeare gave it to the heroine of As You Like It. The appealing rose association is a later reinterpretation of an older Germanic name, rather than its original formation.
Rosalind through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 27,136
- 0 boys · 27,136 girls
- Most popular year
- 1965
- 652 babies
- 2025
- 140
- #1,521 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −12%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 140 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,521 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 12.4% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 652 in 1965. In 2025, California and Texas shared the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (13 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 18,210 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Rosalind’s family of names
In English usage, Rosalind has a diminutive in Ros. Rosalind is a form of Rose. In English usage, Rosalind has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Rosalinda.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 44
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Rosalinavariant
- Roselynvariant
- Rosalynvariant
- Roslynvariant
- Rosalynnvariant
- Rosalinevariant
- Rosalindavariant · Italian
- Roslynnvariant
Show 36 moreShow fewer
- Roselinevariant
- Rosaleenvariant
- Rosalinvariant
- Roselinvariant
- Roslinvariant
- Roselinavariant
- Rozalynnvariant
- Rozvariant
- Rozelynvariant
- Rossalindlikely variant
- Rozalindvariant · English
- Roselindavariant
- Roselindvariant
- Rosalyndavariant
- Rosalyndvariant
- Rosalindevariant
- Rozlinvariant
- Rozalinvariant
- Rosallindlikely variant
- Rosdiminutive · English
- Roselyndavariant
- Roselinnvariant
- Roselindevariant
- Rosanievariant
- Rosalinnvariant
- Rosalenvariant
- Rhozlynvariant
- Rhosiynvariant
- Rozelyndavariant
- Rozelindavariant
- Rozelindvariant
- Rozelinvariant
- Rozalynnevariant
- Rozalindavariant
- Roslynnevariant
- Roselyndevariant
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Rosalind
- Rosalind FranklinBritish chemist, biophysicist, and X-ray crystallographer (1920–1958)
- Rosalind RussellAmerican actress (1907–1976)
- Rosalind ChaoAmerican actressborn 1957
- Rosalind PicardAmerican computer scientistborn 1962
- Rosalind E. KraussAmerican art historianborn 1940
- Rosalind KnightBritish actress (1933–2020)
- Rosalind EliasAmerican mezzo-soprano1930–2020
- Rosalind CashAmerican actress (1938-1995)
- Rosalind HicksAgatha Christie's daughter (1919–2004)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Rosalind, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Tina
Tina is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the river; also shortened torm of names ending in -tina.”
>99% girls
Toni
“a flourishing man; from an ancient Roman family”
8% boys · 92% girls
Marni
“woman of the sea”
>99% girls
Shelley
“from the bank's meadow” · “from the meadow's ledge”
>99% girls
Gina
“God is gracious” · “queen”
>99% girls
Darcie
“a dark beauty”
>99% girls
Pamela
“very strange” · “a woman who is as sweet as honey”
>99% girls
Beth
“my God is bountiful” · “God is my oath”
>99% girls