Rodriguez
A Spanish surname derived from the given name "Rodrigo", meaning "famous ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 906 living Americans carry the first name Rodriguez. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Rodriguez today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodriguez births was 1981 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodriguez. 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
906
~ 1 in 378,316 Americans
Peak year
1981
47 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2017 SSA rank
#8,994
Tracked since 1955
Census
Rodriguez in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,689 people with the first name Rodriguez, which placed it at #8,567 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
#8,567
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,689 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodriguez
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodriguez is Hispanic at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (39.3%) and White (3.7%). 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 Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino54.1% · 913
- Black or African American39.3% · 664
- White3.7% · 63
- Two or more races1.4% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Rodriguez
Out of the 957 babies given the name Rodriguez since 1880, 99.5% 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.
Rodriguez as a male name
- Ranked #9,511 in 2017
- 8 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1981 (47 births)
Rodriguez as a female name
- Ranked #8,994 in 1970
- 5 female births in 1970
- Peak: 1970 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rodriguez on both sides of the split. Of the 1,694 people counted with this name, 1,328 were male (78.4%) and 366 were female (21.6%).
Popularity
Rodriguez: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rodriguez from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 277 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rodriguez' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Rodriguez, while South Carolina, Michigan, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodriguez
The given name Rodriguez has its origins rooted in the Spanish language and culture. It emerged during the medieval period in the Iberian Peninsula, which encompasses modern-day Spain and Portugal. The name is derived from the Spanish surname "Rodríguez," which itself is a patronymic form of the name "Rodrigo."
Rodriguez is a masculine given name, and its etymology can be traced back to the Germanic name "Roderick," which means "famous power" or "renowned ruler." This name was popularized in the region due to the influence of the Visigoths, a Germanic people who ruled parts of the Iberian Peninsula during the 5th to 8th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rodriguez can be found in the 12th-century epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which chronicles the life of the Castilian knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, also known as El Cid. This literary work played a significant role in popularizing the name throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the given name Rodriguez. One such figure was Rodrigo de Bastidas (c. 1460-1526), a Spanish conquistador and explorer who was among the first Europeans to explore the Caribbean coast of present-day Colombia and Panama.
Another prominent individual was Rodrigo de Triana (fl. 1492), a sailor on Christopher Columbus's crew who is credited with being the first to sight land in the Americas on October 12, 1492, during their voyage to the New World.
In the realm of art, Rodrigo Alemán (c. 1625-1689) was a renowned Spanish Golden Age painter known for his religious works and portraiture, while Rodrigo de Villandrando (1588-1623) was a celebrated Spanish composer and musician during the Renaissance period.
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid (c. 1043-1099), was a Castilian nobleman and skilled military leader who played a crucial role in the Reconquista, the centuries-long struggle between Christian and Moorish forces for control of the Iberian Peninsula.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have carried the given name Rodriguez, which has its roots deeply intertwined with the rich cultural heritage of the Spanish-speaking world.
People
Rodriguez + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodriguez 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
Rodriguez: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodriguez?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 906 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodriguez 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 378,316 US residents.
Is Rodriguez a common name?
We classify Rodriguez as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 957 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodriguez most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodriguez was 1981, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodriguez is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodriguez in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,689 people with the name Rodriguez, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,567 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 Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Rodriguez on both sides of the split. Of the 1,694 people counted with this name, 1,328 were male (78.4%) and 366 were female (21.6%). 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 Rodriguez?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodriguez is Hispanic at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (39.3%) and White (3.7%). 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 Rodriguez most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Rodriguez in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (913 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 Rodriguez in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodriguez a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodriguez 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 Rodriguez 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 people share the name Rodriguez?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Rodriguez on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.