Roscoe

Norse
"deer forest"

Roscoe Origin and Meaning

The name Roscoe is a boy's name of Scandinavian, Norse origin meaning "deer forest".

Fairly popular a hundred years ago but out of sight now, the quirky Roscoe deserves a place on every adventurous baby-namer's long list. It joins Rufus, Roman, Remy, Romulus, and Ray as one of the R names that sound fresh again after too many years of Robert, Richard, and Ronald.

Originally a place and surname, Roscoe had its glory days in the 1880s, when it reached as high as Number 138, then gradually declined, possibly damaged by the scandals surrounding silent star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and then the hillbilly image it acquired thanks to Sheriff Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard.

Roscoe has been out of the Top 1000 since 1978 but feels very much in step with the trending o-ending boy names popular now, such as Milo, Hugo, and Otto.

Trivia tidbit: The R in Edward R. Murrow stands for Roscoe; the distinguished newsman's first name was really Egbert.

# 966 in the US

Roscoe Rank in US Top 1000

# 172 on Nameberry

Roscoe Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Roscoe Popularity

Famous People Named Roscoe

  • Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle
    American silent film actor
  • Roscoe Conkling
    U.S. Senator from New York
  • Roscoe Conkling McCulloch
    U.S. Congressman from Ohio
  • Roscoe Conkling Patterson
    U.S. Senator from Missouri
  • Roscoe Conkling Bruce
    American educator
  • Roscoe Tanner
    American tennis player
  • Roscoe Parrish
    American NFL football player
  • Roscoe Dash
    stage name of Jeffery Johnson, Jr., American rapper
  • Roscoe Lee Browne
    American actor and director
  • Roscoe Fulton "Rocky" Carroll
    American actor
  • Roscoe Gardner Bartlett
    U.S. Congressman from Maryland
  • Roscoe Mitchell
    American jazz saxophonist
  • (Nathan) Roscoe Pound
    American legal scholar
  • Roscoe Robinson
    Jr., first black four,star general in the U.S.
  • Roscoe Shelton
    American singer
  • Roscoe Hunter Orman
    American actor
  • Roscoe Clyde Miller
    American baseball player
  • Roscoe Karns
    American actor
  • Roscoe Holcomb
    American bluegrass musician
  • Roscoe Henry Hillenkoetter
    first director of the CIA
  • Flynn Roscoe Farrar (b. 2014)
    son of musician Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet

Roscoe in Pop Culture

  • "Roscoe"
    song by American band Midlake
  • "Roscoe"
    novel by William Kennedy
  • Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles
    popular California restaurant chain
  • Roscoe
    name of an important car in tv series, "Teen Wolf"