ROLLAND

The surname Rolland is a patronymic name of Old Germanic origin, derived from the personal name Roland. The name Roland combines the elements hrod, meaning “renown”, and land, meaning “land” or “territory”, so that the literal sense of the name is “renowned in the land”. It was originally a given name, but by the Middle Ages it had become a hereditary surname passed down through generations.

In Britain the name appears to have entered the English tongue through the Norman Conquest. The Norman personal name Rol(l)ant was found throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, partly due to the fame of the legendary hero of the epic poem The Song of Roland, who was a nephew of Charlemagne. The poem, written in the early twelfth century, popularised the name across the continent and contributed to its adoption as a surname by English-speaking peoples.

An alternative source of the surname is locational. In Derbyshire and Sussex there are place-names that are believed to be the origin of the name. These places derive from the Old Norse elements ra meaning “roebuck” and lundr meaning “wood” or “grove”, so that the place name literally means “wood of the roebuck”. Locational surnames developed when inhabitants of a given place moved elsewhere; the new settlement would often be identified by the name of their former home, giving rise to surnames such as Rolland, Rowland, Rolane and Rollons.

Records from the parish registers of Derbyshire contain early bearers of the surname. On 25 August 1604 Humfridus Rowland married Johana Hadfield at Baslow, and on 7 January 1715 Anthony Rowland wed Ann Pirson at Eyam. These registrations show that the name had become well established among the local gentry by the early modern period.

The first documented instance of the name as a family surname is that of Simon Rolland, who appears in the Assise Court Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1218. The record is held in the archives of the reign of King Henry the First of the House of Plantagenet, known to historians as “The Frenchman”. That entry provides the earliest evidence that the name had acquired hereditary status in England.

The Rolland family was awarded a coat of arms at several locations. At Carew on the island of Anglesey, in Shropshire, at Saxonbury Lodge in Sussex and at Egham and Barnes in Surrey, the arms feature a silver pile wavy on a black field. The blazon indicates a motif of water or mobility, common in heraldic devices associated with sailing or the river, but survives in the family record.

Variants of the surname are numerous and reflect linguistic and regional changes over time. Modern spellings include Rowland, Roland, Rolandson, Rollinis, Rolacks and others such as Rolance, Rowlands and Rollons. The name can also appear in forms adapted to other languages, for instance Rolando in Spanish or Rolandelli in Italian.

In France the surname Rolland is the thirty-seventh most common family name, a rank that reflects its widespread use in French-speaking communities, especially in the Languedoc region of south France where it first appeared in the twelfth century. It also occurs frequently in Belgium and Switzerland where French is a dominant language.

The name extends beyond Europe. In the United States it ranks as the seventy‑sixth most common surname, a status that is linked to the immigration of French‑Canadian settlers between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The earliest North American instance is recorded in 1790 when a Jean Rolland migrated from Quebec to what is now northeastern Maine. The surname remains most common in states with large French‑Canadian populations such as Louisiana, Maine and Massachusetts.

Because the name originates from a personal designation meaning “renowned in the land”, it is sometimes interpreted as a nickname or an occupational mark. In the medieval context the element hrod could denote personal achievement or esteem, while the suffix land underscored connection to a particular territory or activity. Thus, bearers of the name were likely regarded as either notable figures within their community or as people whose name reflected a respected heritage.

Typical given names associated with the Rolland surname

Male

• Alexander
• Andrew
• David
• Douglas
• Gordon
• Ian
• James
• John
• Mark
• Michael
• Paul
• Peter
• William

Female

• Brenda
• Catherine
• Christine
• Claire
• Elizabeth
• Jean
• Jennifer
• Margaret
• Marianne
• Nicola
• Sara
• Sarah
• Susan

Similar and related surnames

Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.

How to communicate the surname Rolland in...

Braille

⠗⠕⠇⠇⠁⠝⠙

Morse

.-.---.-...-...--.-..

Semaphore

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Rolland

• Douglas Rolland - Scottish golfer (1861 to 1)

Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.

Your comments on the Rolland surname