Entry № 4889 · Germanic origin

Rosalind Rosalind — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ ROZ-ah-lind /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Germanic
Meaning
"Tender horse, beautiful rose"
Syllables
3
Rank · US 2025
№ 698
First recorded
Medieval (Germanic)

A name that means "tender horse, beautiful rose".

Rosalind is of debated origin. The Germanic form derives from hros (horse) and lind (tender, soft) — meaning "tender horse." By the medieval period, folk etymology linked it to rosa (rose) and linda (beautiful) — "beautiful rose."

Shakespeare's As You Like It (c. 1599) features Rosalind as one of his most loved heroines — the witty, cross-dressed exile in the Forest of Arden. The Nobel laureate Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), who imaged DNA's double helix structure with X-ray crystallography, gave the name modern scientific weight.

Beautiful rose. Shakespeare's Forest of Arden heroine.

The name in its native script.

Rosalind
Transliteration
Rosalind
Pronunciation
/ ˈrɒz.ə.lɪnd /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Rosalind stands.

Current rank · 2025
№ 698 in the U.S.
All-time peak
№ 247 in 1937
Babies named Rosalind · last year
412 in the U.S.
First entered SSA top-1000
1880
Rank, 1995–2025 Lower = more popular
№25 №75 №150 №250 1995 2005 2015 2020 2025 PEAK · №247 NOW · №698

Rosalinds before her.

Real people
Rosalind Franklin
British scientist who imaged DNA's double helix.
1920 – 1958
Rosalind Russell
American actress.
1907 – 1976
In fiction
Rosalind
Heroine of Shakespeare's As You Like It.
c. 1599 play

Names connected to Rosalind.

The number behind Rosalind.

7

The Seeker

Rosalind reduces to seven — the number of literary keenness.

Why families chose this name.

"Rosalind Franklin. DNA. We want her to use her mind that hard."
Hannah · Mother of one · Cambridge