Roland Family History

French Walloon German English and Scottish: from an ancient Germanic personal name composed of hrōd ‘fame renown’ + land ‘land’. In North America this surname is also an altered form of the more common French variant Rolland . See also English Rowland . Norwegian (also Røland): habitational name from any of several farms named Rødland mainly in Hordaland or Røyland mainly in Agder most of them from Old Norse reyrr ‘heap of stones’ or reyrr ‘rush’ (a plant) + the second element land ‘(piece of) land farmstead’. Compare Rolland . Norwegian: habitational name from the farm name Roland in Lillehammer with the first element Old Norse ruth ‘clearing’ or Roland in Agder around Lindesnes with the first element possibly the Old Norse personal name Rói (either a short form of names beginning with Ro(d)- ‘fame honor’ or composed with a word for ‘giant’ or ‘pagan priest’). The second element of the farm names is land ‘(piece of) land farmstead’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022