Etymology

From a Norman name of Germanic origins, likely made up of hrod "fame" and heid "kind, sort, type". Introduced to England in the form Roese or Rohese. Later conflated with the vernacular word "rose", and associated with the flower names that first became popular in the end of the 19th century. Also a nickname for names beginning with Rose-/Rosa-.

• The surname may be matronymic, but more probably topographic from residence by rose bushes or the sign of a rose, or a nickname from rosy complexion.

Proper noun

1. .

Quotations

: Act I, Scene II:

• Celia.- - - Therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear Rose, be merry.

  Rosalind. From henceforth I will, coz, and devise sports.

• ~1886 William Ernest Henley, A Ballade of Ladies' Names, Gleeson White:Ballades and Rondeaus, Read Books 1887, page 19:

  Sentiment hallows the vowels of Delia; /Sweet simplicity breathes from Rose;

• 1957 Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine, Avon Books 1999, ISBN 0380977265, page 248:

  An aunt had arrived and her name was Rose and you could hear her voice clarion clear above the others, and you could imagine her warm and huge as a hothouse rose, exactly like her name, filling any room she sat in.

• 1980 P. D. James, Innocent Blood, Faber and Faber, ISBN 0571115667, page 170:

  Rose Ducton. Rosie Ducton. Philippa Rose Palfrey. A row of books with Rose Ducton on the spine. - - - Rose. It didn't even suit her. It was a name in a catalogue: Peace, Scarlet Wonder, Albertine. She had thought that she had got used to the knowledge that nothing about her was real, not even her name.

Related terms

• pet form: Rosie
• variants: Rohesia, Rosa, Rosalind, Rosaline, Rosalyn, Rosamond, Rosamund, Rosanna, Roselyn, Rosemarie, Rosemary, Rosina, Roslyn