Rodolph
Of German origin, a masculine name meaning "famous wolf".
Name Census estimates that about 36 living Americans carry the first name Rodolph. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rodolph today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodolph births was 1927 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodolph. 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
- • The typical person named Rodolph is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Rodolphs were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Rodolph. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
36
~ 1 in 9,520,954 Americans
Peak year
1927
18 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1971 SSA rank
#4,811
Tracked since 1914
Census
Rodolph in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 160 people with the first name Rodolph, which placed it at #43,806 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
#43,806
National first-name rank
People counted
160
160 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodolph
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodolph is Black at 48.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Rodolph 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 Rodolph at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.8% · 78
- White33.1% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 7
Popularity
Rodolph: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rodolph from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 86 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
Rodolph 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 Rodolph during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodolph
The given name Rodolph originated from the Germanic languages, tracing its roots back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the Old High German name "Rodolf" or "Hrodulf," composed of the elements "hruod" meaning "fame" or "glory" and "wulf" meaning "wolf." This combination suggests the name translates to "famous wolf" or "glory wolf."
The earliest recorded use of the name Rodolph can be found in ancient Germanic texts and chronicles from the Middle Ages. One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Rodolph I of Burgundy, who ruled as the King of Upper and Lower Burgundy from 888 to 912 AD.
In the 12th century, the name gained prominence with Rodolph of Hapsburg, who became the first King of the Romans and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1273. His reign marked the rise of the influential Habsburg dynasty in Central Europe.
Another notable figure in history was Rodolph II, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 to 1612. He was a patron of the arts, sciences, and occult studies during the Renaissance period.
The name Rodolph also appeared in literature, such as the 16th-century play "The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus" by William Shakespeare, where one of the characters bears this name.
Among other prominent individuals with the name Rodolph were Rodolph Valentino (1895-1926), an Italian-American actor known as the "Great Lover" of the silent film era, and Rodolph Bing (1902-1997), a German-American opera impresario who served as the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera from 1950 to 1972.
While the name Rodolph has undergone various spelling variations over the centuries, including Rudolf, Rudolph, and Rodolfo, its origins and historical significance remain deeply rooted in the Germanic cultural traditions, reflecting the ideals of fame, glory, and strength associated with the symbolic wolf.
People
Rodolph + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodolph 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
Rodolph: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodolph?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 36 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodolph 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 9,520,954 US residents.
Is Rodolph a common name?
We classify Rodolph as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 189 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodolph most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodolph was 1927, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodolph is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodolph in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 160 people with the name Rodolph, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,806 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 Rodolph 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 Rodolph?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodolph appears almost entirely male. Of the 157 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 Rodolph?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodolph is Black at 48.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Rodolph most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rodolph in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.8% (78 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 Rodolph in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodolph a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Rodolph 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 Rodolph still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodolph 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 Rodolph 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 Rodolph?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.