Rocco
Meaning
“Italian form of an old Germanic name, its root debated: read as 'rest' in one tradition, 'crow' in another”
Goes by Rocky
The story
Rocco is an old Germanic name Italy made its own, the root debated, read as crow in one tradition and rest in another, and its great bearer settled what it means in practice: Saint Rocco, the fourteenth-century pilgrim who nursed plague victims until he caught the disease himself, patron saint of the sick. The American record is Italian immigration in miniature: about 2,200 in the 1910s and 3,300 in the 1920s, then a long steady middle, between about 1,100 and 2,200 a decade from the 1930s through the 1990s, then the revival: 4,400 in the 2000s, 6,700 in the 2010s, and 3,600 so far this decade. Rocky is the fighting form, the one Rocco Marchegiano wore into the ring as Rocky Marciano. In our records it goes to boys about 31,700 to five.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Rocco peaked in the 2010s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
246 people · the #21,923 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 46
Among people named Rocco living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 27 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Rocco
Most people given the name Rocco in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Rocco deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Rocco truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Rocco fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Nicknames for Rocco · Italian American baby names · Strong names
Does Rocco fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Rocco to your family’s tree →