Recorded 1882–2025 · United States
Rosemary was most popular in 1947, when 4,542 American babies were given the name — ranking #161 that year. In 2025 it ranked #536, with 1,222 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 163,523 people named Rosemary.
Rosemary first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1882, which makes it about 143 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 144 of the 144 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 163,523 American births named Rosemary between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 90,676 are estimated to be alive today.
1,222 American babies were named Rosemary in 2025, ranking #536 that year.
Rosemary is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 997 births a year, against 525 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +90% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Rosemary is a girl’s name — 99.8% of the 163,523 Americans given it were girls and 0.2% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 90,676 Americans named Rosemary are alive today — 55% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 68 years old, and half are between 43 and 78. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Latin · the herb, "dew of the sea"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Rosemary on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org