Roan has several sources: it is a spelling of Rowan, the Irish Ruadhán meaning "little red one", it is the English word for a horse with a reddish coat flecked with white, and in the Netherlands it is a short form of names ending in -ron. The red theme runs through all of them. Roan stood at number 3730 in 2000, moved into the 1300s by 2015 and ranks number 1309 in 2025, its highest rank so far.