Roderica
Of Latin origin, meaning "powerful ruler" or "famous ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 129 living Americans carry the first name Roderica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Roderica today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roderica births was 1990 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roderica. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
129
~ 1 in 2,657,010 Americans
Peak year
1990
15 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1999 SSA rank
#12,378
Tracked since 1973
Popularity
Roderica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roderica from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 82 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roderica by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Roderica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rodericas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Roderica
The name Roderica has its origins in the Late Latin language, derived from the Germanic root "rod" or "hrod," which means "fame" or "renown." It first appeared in the Medieval period, around the 5th to 9th centuries CE, when the Germanic tribes migrated and settled across various regions of Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Roderica can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Cavensis, a collection of medieval documents from the Cava de' Tirreni monastery in southern Italy, dating back to the 9th century. The name was likely brought to the region by the Lombards, a Germanic tribe that ruled parts of Italy during the 6th to 8th centuries.
In the 12th century, a Spanish noblewoman named Roderica Díaz de Vivar was mentioned in the epic poem El Cantar de Mio Cid. She was the daughter of the renowned Castilian knight El Cid Campeador and played a significant role in the poem's events.
During the 13th century, Roderica of Polheim, a German noblewoman, was recorded as the Abbess of the Monasterium Campililiense, a Benedictine monastery in present-day Austria, from 1263 to 1275.
In the 15th century, Roderica Borgia, a member of the powerful Borgia family in Renaissance Italy, was born in 1480. She was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and became a prominent figure in the Vatican court.
Another notable figure was Roderica Mendes, a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his famous voyage around the world in the early 16th century. She was one of the few women on the expedition and played a crucial role in the success of the voyage.
While the name Roderica has its roots in Late Latin and Germanic origins, it was also adopted and used in various other cultures and regions throughout history, albeit with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Roderica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roderica as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Roderica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roderica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 129 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roderica going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,657,010 US residents.
Is Roderica a common name?
We classify Roderica as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 135 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roderica most popular?
The single biggest year for Roderica was 1990, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roderica is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Roderica a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Roderica in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.