# Rowena (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/rowena/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 10,526 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 10,526 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 389, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From the name of the daughter of Hengist and wife of Vortigern in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century pseudohistorical Latin work Historia regum Britanniae. There have been attempts to connect it to some unattested Old English or Common Brittonic name, but without any real evidence. It was revived after Walter Scott used it in his novel Ivanhoe (1819). Some places are named after Lady Rowena in the novel.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 15 | 8,124 |
| 2012 | 11 | 10,295 |
| 2013 | 11 | 10,124 |
| 2014 | 14 | 8,408 |
| 2015 | 12 | 9,384 |
| 2016 | 19 | 6,626 |
| 2017 | 22 | 5,792 |
| 2018 | 29 | 4,751 |
| 2019 | 28 | 4,879 |
| 2020 | 51 | 3,130 |
| 2021 | 33 | 4,310 |
| 2022 | 39 | 3,881 |
| 2023 | 37 | 4,031 |
| 2024 | 48 | 3,327 |
| 2025 | 32 | 4,441 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10 | 2,432 |
| 2012 | 5 | 4,171 |
| 2013 | 10 | 2,460 |
| 2014 | 3 | 5,691 |
| 2015 | 5 | 4,103 |
| 2016 | 11 | 2,367 |
| 2017 | 3 | 5,765 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,518 |
| 2019 | 4 | 4,686 |
| 2020 | 6 | 3,447 |
| 2021 | 4 | 4,634 |
| 2022 | 7 | 3,148 |
| 2023 | 8 | 2,927 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,843 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3,035 |

## People named Rowena

- Rowena Morrill, American artist (1944–2021)
- Rowena Webster, Australian female water polo player
- Rowena Meredith, Australian rower
- Rowena Mary Bruce, English chess player
- Rowena Meeks Abdy, American modernist painter (1887-1945)
- Rowena King, British actress

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.