Roswell is an uncommon yet distinctive given name of American origin. It is derived from the surname Rose-well, which was originally an English occupational name for a worker in a rose garden. The name Roswell first gained prominence during the early 19th century in the southern United States, possibly due to its association with the town of Roswell, Georgia, founded in 1834. Throughout history, there have been several notable figures bearing this name, including American Civil War general Roswell S. Ripley and Confederate general Roswell Sabine Ripley, further contributing to its uniqueness and recognition.
The name Roswell experiences a significant fluctuation in its popularity over the years, with peaks and valleys that seem to follow no consistent pattern. In the late 19th century, there was an average of about six births per year bearing this name, with occasional spikes up to nine births. The early 20th century saw some notable highs, such as 45 births in 1918 and 48 in 1919, but these were exceptions rather than trends.
From the 1930s onwards, the number of Roswell births typically fell into a range between five to twenty each year. There were intermittent periods where this number climbed above twenty, such as during the mid-1950s and again in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but these were temporary increases.
More recently, since the turn of the millennium, there has been a consistent decrease in the popularity of the name Roswell. The number of births with this name hovers between five to ten annually, reaching its lowest point in recent history with only six births each year from 2017 onwards. Overall, over these years, there have been a total of 1394 births recorded under the name Roswell.