Boy · Old Norse
Roald
Say it: ROO-ahl
Meaning
From Old Norse Hróaldr: hróðr 'fame' and valdr 'ruler'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A saga-age name revived in 19th-century Norway.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 189 babies given this name since 1912
- At its height in 1912, about 1 in 43,000 boys
- Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020
Through the ages
- The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| Old Norse | Hróaldr |
|---|
Famous bearers
- Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer
- Roald Dahl, British writer of Norwegian parentage
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Icelandic sagas and other Old Norse literature
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.