Rodman
A masculine name of Old English origin meaning either "famous hart" or "famous clearing".
Name Census estimates that about 657 living Americans carry the first name Rodman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rodman today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodman births was 1928 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodman. 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
657
~ 1 in 521,696 Americans
Peak year
1928
34 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,787
Tracked since 1912
Census
Rodman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 717 people with the first name Rodman, which placed it at #15,898 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
#15,898
National first-name rank
People counted
717
717 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodman is White at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (11.4%). 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 Rodman 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 Rodman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.9% · 494
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 86
- Black or African American11.4% · 82
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 27
- Two or more races2.9% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 7
Popularity
Rodman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rodman from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 273 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rodman 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 Rodman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rodmans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Rodman, while Texas, California, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodman
The given name Rodman is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "rod" and "mann," meaning "a man who clears land." It first emerged in the 11th century during the Norman conquest of England, when many new surnames were introduced.
Historically, the name Rodman was associated with individuals who worked as land-clearers or foresters, responsible for clearing and maintaining woodland areas. It was initially used as an occupational surname before transitioning into a given name over time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rodman can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which documented landholders in England after the Norman conquest. The name appears as "Rodmann" in several entries, indicating its use at that time.
In the 13th century, the name Rodman appeared in various historical records, such as the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire, which listed individuals with the surname Rodman living in the region.
Notable individuals named Rodman throughout history include:
1. Rodman Philbrick (born 1951), an American author known for his novels for young adults, including "Freak the Mighty" and "The Fire Pony."
2. Rodman Edward Griscom (1833-1893), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 1889 to 1893.
3. Rodman Wanamaker (1838-1922), an American entrepreneur and founder of the department store chain Wanamaker's, which later became part of Macy's.
4. Rodman Drake (1816-1880), an American poet and writer best known for his poem "The Culprit Fay."
5. Rodman Townsend (1753-1838), an American Revolutionary War soldier and politician who served as a member of the New York State Assembly.
While the name Rodman has its roots in Old English, it has maintained a presence across various periods and cultures, with notable individuals bearing this name throughout history, reflecting its enduring legacy as a given name.
People
Rodman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodman 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
Rodman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 657 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodman 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 521,696 US residents.
Is Rodman a common name?
We classify Rodman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,331 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodman most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodman was 1928, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodman is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 717 people with the name Rodman, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,898 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 Rodman 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 Rodman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodman appears almost entirely male. Of the 713 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Rodman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodman is White at 68.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (11.4%). 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 Rodman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rodman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.9% (494 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 Rodman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rodman 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 Rodman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodman 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 Rodman 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 common is the name Rodman?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Rodman at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.