Roswell

Where Roswell comes from

Roswell hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1835
    Roswell Pettibone Flower born
    American politician
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #909 among boys — 5 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1891
    Peak, #386
    20 babies named Roswell — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1893
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  5. 1935
    Roswell Rudd born
    American jazz trombonist and composer
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Roswell Rudd · American jazz trombonist and composer, 1935–2017
  • Roswell Pettibone Flower · American politician, 1835–1899
  • Roswell K. Colcord · American politician, 1839–1939
  • Roswell B. Mason · American politician, 1805–1892
  • Roswell Farnham · Union United States Army officer, 1827–1903

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.