Roderick
Famous leader or family ruler of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 38,471 living Americans carry the first name Roderick. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Roderick today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Roderick births was 1971 (1,067 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Roderick. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Roderick is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 263 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
38K
~ 1 in 8,909 Americans
Peak year
1971
1,067 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,909
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Roderick
Out of the 47,351 babies given the name Roderick since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Roderick as a male name
- Ranked #1,909 in 2024
- 83 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (1,057 births)
Roderick as a female name
- Ranked #11,408 in 1988
- 6 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1976 (14 births)
Popularity
Roderick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Roderick from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 9,704 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Roderick 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 Roderick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rodericks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, Alabama, California recorded the most babies named Roderick, while South Dakota, New Hampshire, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 886 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Roderick
The name Roderick has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler". It first appeared in the 8th century among the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula and southern France.
The earliest recorded use of the name Roderick can be found in the chronicles of the Visigothic kings, where it was spelled as "Roderic" or "Roderico". One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Roderic, the last Visigothic king of Spain, who reigned from 710 to 711 AD and was defeated by the Moorish invasion, leading to the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
In the Middle Ages, the name Roderick gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and Scotland. It was sometimes anglicized as "Roderick" or "Rodrick". One of the earliest recorded examples of this spelling is Roderick Macdonald, a Scottish nobleman who lived in the 13th century.
During the Renaissance, the name Roderick was associated with literary figures and intellectuals. One notable example is the Spanish writer and humanist Rodrigo de Zayas (1455-1511), who was also known as Roderico de Zayas.
In the 19th century, the name Roderick became popular in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and Britain. Some notable individuals with this name include:
1. Roderick Impey Murchison (1792-1871), a Scottish geologist and one of the founders of the Geological Society of London.
2. Roderick Dhu, a fictional character in Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake" (1810).
3. Roderick MacIver (1819-1890), a Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist.
4. Roderick Maclean (1853-1933), a Canadian politician and lawyer.
5. Roderick Seidenberg (1859-1936), a German-American fencer and fencing instructor.
Throughout its history, the name Roderick has been associated with strength, power, and fame, reflecting its Germanic roots. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, it remains a distinctive and historically significant name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Roderick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Roderick 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
Roderick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Roderick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38,471 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Roderick 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 8,909 US residents.
Is Roderick a common name?
We classify Roderick as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47,351 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Roderick most popular?
The single biggest year for Roderick was 1971, when 1,067 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Roderick is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Roderick a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Roderick in the SSA data are male. 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.