girl's name
Roisin
ro-SHEEN
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 14,341
Ireland
#29
as Róisín, 2025
Roisin is a girl's name of Irish origin meaning "little rose," from rós with a diminutive ending. It carries a long political history through the song Róisín Dubh, in which the name stands for Ireland itself, and ranked 29th in Ireland in 2025.
- Roisin is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in Ireland in 2005, when 280 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in Ireland.
- Today about 1 in 7,476 babies in Ireland is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1964.
Roisin over time
Births per decade in Ireland, 1960s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 247 |
| 1970s | 917 |
| 1980s | 1,451 |
| 1990s | 2,089 |
| 2000s | 2,424 |
| 2010s | 1,900 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 949 |
What Roisin means
Roisin means little rose. It is rós, a rose, with the affectionate diminutive -ín, so the sense is a small or dear rose rather than simply a rose.
Where Roisin comes from
Róisín is a diminutive of Róis, the Irish form of Rose, which arrived with the Normans. Its standing rests less on the flower than on Róisín Dubh, the dark little rose — a sixteenth-century song in which a woman's name is used as a coded figure for Ireland, addressed by a lover who cannot speak openly. The device let poets write about the country under Penal-era censorship, and the song was translated by James Clarence Mangan in the nineteenth century as "Dark Rosaleen," which fixed it in the national canon. As a result the name reads in Ireland as patriotic as well as pretty, a double register few flower names carry.
Roisin in use
Róisín ranked 29th in Ireland in 2025 with 135 births. The accent is doing real work here: the unaccented Roisin sits at 574 in the same year with six births, so the fada is close to universal among Irish parents choosing the name. Our Irish records carry it from 1964 onward.
How popular is Roisin?
In 2025, Roisin was given to 6 babies in Ireland, ranking #574 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Roisin is used
Irish figures withhold any name given to fewer than three babies in a year, so a gap means the name fell below that floor rather than went unused. The Central Statistics Office began recording the síneadh fada in 2018, so accented and unaccented spellings are counted separately from that year on. Data & sources.
How Roisin is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Róisín | Róisín is Roisin written with a fada in Ireland, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #29 in Ireland, against #574 for Roisin. | 1,123 |
| Roisín | Roisín is a rare spelling of Roisin, written with a fada and recorded 75 times, mostly in Ireland. | 75 |
| Roísín | Roísín is a rare spelling of Roisin, written with a fada and recorded 13 times, mostly in Ireland. | 13 |
| Róisin | Róisin is a rare spelling of Roisin, written with a fada and recorded 4 times, mostly in Ireland. | 4 |
Names that peaked alongside Roisin
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Roisin also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Roisin over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Roisin
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Roisin in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Roisin
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Roisin — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Roisin
What does the name Róisín mean?
Róisín means "little rose," from the Irish rós with a diminutive ending.
How do you pronounce Róisín?
ro-SHEEN, two syllables, with the stress on the second.
What is Róisín Dubh?
A sixteenth-century song in which the name stands as a coded figure for Ireland, later translated by Mangan as "Dark Rosaleen."
Is Róisín related to Rose?
Yes. It is a diminutive of Róis, the Irish form of Rose.
How popular is the name Roisin?
In 2025, Roisin was given to 6 babies in Ireland, ranking #574 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Is Roisin a girl's or a boy's name?
Roisin is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Roisin most popular?
Roisin peaked in 2005, when 280 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Roisin?
Roisin is usually shortened to Ro and Rosie.
Is Roisin a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Roisin currently ranks #29 in Ireland. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.