Rolf
From Germanic Hrodwulf, contracted to four letters that still hold a wolf: hrod for fame, wulf for wolf, famous wolf. Just 168 men in Poland carry it, and no boy has been recorded with it this century.
Rolf Pronunciation
Rolf is pronounced ROLF (/rɔlf/).
What Rolf means
Where Rolf comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Rolf comes down from Germanic. It contracts an older Hrodwulf, made from two parts: hrod, meaning fame, and wulf, meaning wolf. The short meaning keeps that seam intact. Famous wolf.
The name traveled north early. In Old Norse it hardened into Hrólfr, a form the sagas gave to kings and sea-raiders. Gøngu-Hrólfr, the wandering Norseman, seized land near the mouth of the Seine around 911. He is traditionally identified with Rollo, whose line went on to rule Normandy.
In German and Scandinavian use the name stayed short and unadorned. Rolf answers to no diminutive and shifts into no variant. The wolf hides in four letters. On a Polish class register it would read as a visitor from the north, its meaning sealed under spelling most children would not unpack: hrod for fame, wulf for wolf, famous wolf.
How many people are named Rolf
1 in 127061 men in Poland is named Rolf. 168 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2481 among male names.
Rolf as a middle name
Rolf is a first name for 168 men in Poland and a middle name for another 60, a 74/26 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 948th, between Mohan (60) and Shankar (60).
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#946 Kilian60
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#947 Mohan60
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#948 Rolf60
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#949 Shankar60
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#950 Tyler60