Rochelle
Rochelle was given to 30 girls in 2025, #4,645 among girls’ names; 47,395 Americans have been recorded with it since 1900 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 39,300 Americans named Rochelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 54 years old and half are between 42 and 65.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rochelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Rochelle mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Rochelle is “a female given name transferred from the place name, of 20th century usage.” Its etymology gives the sense “rock” (roche).
Habitational or topographic name from places in France, La Rochelle, from Old French rochelle diminutive form of roche (“rock”).
/ɹoʊˈʃɛl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Rochelle?
#4,645 among girls’ names, 2025
Rochelle fell from #2,921 in 2015 to #4,645 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 33.6 to 18.7 per million.
1,284 babies in 1969, the peak
Rochelle peaked in 1969, when 1,284 babies were given it (1,271 girls, #236 among girls’ names). The 30 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 30 | #4,645 | 0.02 |
| 2024 | 37 | #4,021 | 0.02 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,967 | 0.02 |
| 2022 | 31 | #4,560 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 45 | #3,479 | 0.03 |
| 2020 | 35 | #4,063 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 31 | #4,518 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 41 | #3,727 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 38 | #3,981 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 47 | #3,407 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (125)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 60 | #2,921 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 63 | #2,772 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 56 | #2,998 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 58 | #2,970 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 58 | #2,983 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 69 | #2,635 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 86 | #2,284 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 101 | #2,049 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 74 | #2,533 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 94 | #2,096 | 0.05 |
| 2005 | 134 | #1,538 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 144 | #1,433 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 135 | #1,457 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 169 | #1,203 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 159 | #1,246 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 197 | #1,055 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 218 | #949 | 0.12 |
| 1998 | 242 | #875 | 0.14 |
| 1997 | 265 | #788 | 0.15 |
| 1996 | 319 | #685 | 0.18 |
| 1995 | 356 | #620 | 0.20 |
| 1994 | 447 | #545 | 0.25 |
| 1993 | 514 | #489 | 0.28 |
| 1992 | 567 | #446 | 0.31 |
| 1991 | 625 | #409 | 0.33 |
| 1990 | 696 | #377 | 0.37 |
| 1989 | 707 | #366 | 0.38 |
| 1988 | 728 | #338 | 0.41 |
| 1987 | 740 | #332 | 0.43 |
| 1986 | 695 | #347 | 0.41 |
| 1985 | 673 | #348 | 0.39 |
| 1984 | 692 | #335 | 0.41 |
| 1983 | 683 | #339 | 0.41 |
| 1982 | 810 | #302 | 0.48 |
| 1981 | 812 | #297 | 0.49 |
| 1980 | 754 | #321 | 0.45 |
| 1979 | 792 | #301 | 0.49 |
| 1978 | 722 | #316 | 0.47 |
| 1977 | 711 | #331 | 0.46 |
| 1976 | 739 | #311 | 0.50 |
| 1975 | 829 | #290 | 0.57 |
| 1974 | 899 | #281 | 0.61 |
| 1973 | 1,007 | #251 | 0.69 |
| 1972 | 1,049 | #257 | 0.69 |
| 1971 | 1,155 | #257 | 0.69 |
| 1970 | 1,179 | #261 | 0.67 |
| 1969 | 1,271 | #236 | 0.75 |
| 1968 | 1,049 | #258 | 0.64 |
| 1967 | 1,009 | #267 | 0.61 |
| 1966 | 901 | #282 | 0.53 |
| 1965 | 900 | #297 | 0.51 |
| 1964 | 948 | #301 | 0.50 |
| 1963 | 871 | #316 | 0.45 |
| 1962 | 990 | #293 | 0.50 |
| 1961 | 1,036 | #289 | 0.51 |
| 1960 | 910 | #312 | 0.45 |
| 1959 | 919 | #299 | 0.45 |
| 1958 | 862 | #307 | 0.43 |
| 1957 | 787 | #325 | 0.38 |
| 1956 | 786 | #313 | 0.39 |
| 1955 | 728 | #318 | 0.37 |
| 1954 | 624 | #340 | 0.32 |
| 1953 | 574 | #353 | 0.31 |
| 1952 | 544 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1951 | 537 | #343 | 0.30 |
| 1950 | 524 | #342 | 0.31 |
| 1949 | 494 | #353 | 0.29 |
| 1948 | 475 | #357 | 0.28 |
| 1947 | 486 | #365 | 0.27 |
| 1946 | 455 | #357 | 0.29 |
| 1945 | 364 | #368 | 0.28 |
| 1944 | 383 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1943 | 465 | #326 | 0.33 |
| 1942 | 487 | #312 | 0.36 |
| 1941 | 456 | #303 | 0.38 |
| 1940 | 460 | #295 | 0.40 |
| 1939 | 420 | #299 | 0.38 |
| 1938 | 478 | #287 | 0.43 |
| 1937 | 451 | #293 | 0.42 |
| 1936 | 440 | #291 | 0.42 |
| 1935 | 233 | #425 | 0.22 |
| 1934 | 103 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1933 | 70 | #799 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 48 | #1,031 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 33 | #1,277 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 31 | #1,398 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 46 | #1,092 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 42 | #1,189 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 37 | #1,329 | 0.03 |
| 1926 | 29 | #1,532 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 49 | #1,100 | 0.04 |
| 1924 | 36 | #1,378 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 44 | #1,171 | 0.04 |
| 1922 | 39 | #1,265 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 57 | #1,000 | 0.05 |
| 1920 | 41 | #1,203 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 46 | #1,087 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 49 | #1,039 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 35 | #1,238 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 41 | #1,111 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 33 | #1,219 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,476 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 16 | #1,515 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,708 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 14 | #1,286 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 12 | #1,411 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,736 | 0.02 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,371 | 0.01 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,334 | 0.02 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,179 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 5 | #2,125 | 0.02 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,753 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,992 | 0.02 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,898 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,892 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Rochelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rochelle has been given almost only to girls: 401 boys in 125 years of records.
Girls and boys named Rochelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rochelle, and how old are they?
39,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 47,395 Americans ever recorded as Rochelle. The median Rochelle alive today is 54 years old; half are between 42 and 65.
The 2020 Census counted 40,162 people named Rochelle (39,973 women and girls, 189 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 41,321 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,990 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 10,900 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 14,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 9,820 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,180 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 538 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Rochelle born?
The states with the most babies named Rochelle are California, New York and Illinois, with 35% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 6,458 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New York | 5,616 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 3,013 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,897 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 2,596 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 2,253 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 1,614 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Minnesota | 1,370 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Wisconsin | 1,076 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Florida | 962 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Rochelle is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Rochelle is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Rochelle with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 49,871 babies since 1880, Rochelle is the most given (95% of them). In 2025 it was given to 30 of their 30 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Rochelle
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Rochelle and names like it
- Compare Rochelle and RochellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sRochelle peaked in 1969.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rochelle since 1910.
- From place namesWiktionary’s origin for Rochelle: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1969The year the most babies were named Rochelle.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Rochelle alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with RMost given first.