Rodley
A name derived from the Old English word 'rod', meaning a clearing or meadow.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Rodley. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rodley today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodley births was 2003 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodley. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Rodley. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2003
5 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2003 SSA rank
#12,367
Tracked since 2003
Census
Rodley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 137 people with the first name Rodley, which placed it at #47,543 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#47,543
National first-name rank
People counted
137
137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
53.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodley is Black at 53.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Rodley described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Rodley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American53.3% · 73
- White27.0% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.7% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 2
Popularity
Rodley: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Rodley 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 Rodley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodley
The name Rodley is an English given name with roots dating back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Old English words "rod" meaning "clearing" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "woodland clearing." Together, the name can be interpreted as "the clearing in the woods."
In the 11th century, the name appeared in the Domesday Book, a historical record of landowners and estates in England compiled by order of William the Conqueror. This suggests that Rodley was in use as a personal name during the Norman conquest of England.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Rodley was Rodley of Nottingham, a nobleman who lived in the 12th century. He was mentioned in several historical documents as a landowner and participant in the Third Crusade.
During the 13th century, a monk named Rodley of Canterbury was known for his illuminated manuscripts and calligraphy work at the Canterbury Cathedral. His beautiful handwriting and intricate illustrations were highly regarded in his time.
In the 15th century, Rodley Cartwright was a prominent English textile merchant and member of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers in London. He was instrumental in establishing trade routes for exporting English wool to the continent.
Sir Rodley Farnham, born in 1587, was a renowned English explorer and navigator who sailed with Sir Walter Raleigh on several expeditions to the Americas. He documented his travels extensively and his journals provided valuable insights into the geography and indigenous cultures of the New World.
Lastly, Rodley Fitzwilliam, born in 1718, was a British army officer who served in the Seven Years' War. He was recognized for his bravery and leadership during the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which helped establish British control over Bengal.
While the name Rodley may not be as common today, it has a rich historical lineage and has been borne by notable figures across various fields throughout the centuries.
People
Rodley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodley 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
Rodley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodley 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Rodley a common name?
We classify Rodley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodley most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodley was 2003, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodley is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 137 people with the name Rodley, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,543 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Rodley in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Rodley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodley leans strongly male. 126 people counted with this name were male (96.2%), compared with 5 female bearers (3.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Rodley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodley is Black at 53.3%. The next largest groups are White (27.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Rodley most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rodley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.3% (73 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rodley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodley a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rodley 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.
Is Rodley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodley in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rodley can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Rodley?
See how many people share the name Rodley on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.