Given name
Roslyn
“a little red-haired boy”
Roslyn is a variant of Roslin. One interpretation is “a little red-haired boy.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Roslyn is a variant of Roslin. One interpretation is “a little red-haired boy.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Roslyn is a variant of Rosalind. Rosalind has been associated with German and English naming traditions. The precise derivation is uncertain.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1891. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Roslyn has a related form in Rosaline. The history of Rosaline gives this family its wider story. Rosaline appears in Love’s Labour’s Lost and is mentioned, without appearing onstage, in Romeo and Juliet. These two uses give the spelling a literary identity of its own. Roslyn is a variant of Rosalind. The history of Rosalind gives this family its wider 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.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Roslyn through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 18,657
- 10 boys · 18,647 girls
- Most popular year
- 1956
- 376 babies
- 2025
- 151
- #1,433 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −10%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 151 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,433 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 10.1% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 376 in 1956. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (12). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 11,760 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.
Roslyn’s family of names
Roslyn has a related form in Rosalind. In English usage, Roslyn has a related form in Rosaline. Roslyn has a related form in Roslin.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 5
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Roslyn
- Roslyn KindAmerican actress, singer, and songwriterborn 1951
- Roslyn GentleAustralian actressborn 1950
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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