Rodas last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Rodas is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Rodas.

Meaning of Rodas

A Catalan and Spanish topographic surname indicating the bearer lived near a clearing or by a wayside cross.

Rodas, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Rodas surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rodas in America

Rodas is the 3193rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rodas surname appeared 11,327 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Rodas.

We can also compare 2010 data for Rodas to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 3193 4782 -39.85%
Count 11,327 6,743 50.74%
Proportion per 100k 3.84 2.50 42.27%

The history of the last name Rodas

The surname Rodas has its origins in Spain, where it first emerged in the medieval period. It is derived from the Spanish word "roda," meaning "wheel" or "circle," suggesting that the name may have been associated with individuals involved in occupations related to wheel-making or living near a circular geographical feature.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rodas can be found in the 13th-century Cartulario de Valpuesta, a collection of medieval documents from the region of Burgos. This suggests that the name was already established in northern Spain by that time.

In the 15th century, the name appeared in various historical records from the Kingdom of Aragon, including references to individuals such as Jaime Rodas, a merchant from Valencia, and Pedro Rodas, a landowner in Zaragoza.

The 16th century saw the Rodas name spread to the Americas, with notable individuals like Bartolomé Rodas, a Spanish conquistador who accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico in the 1520s.

During the 17th century, the Rodas family gained prominence in the region of Andalusia, with Juan Rodas (1590-1669), a renowned poet and playwright from Seville, being one of the most celebrated figures of that era.

In the 18th century, the name Rodas was associated with several military figures, including José Rodas (1725-1797), a Spanish naval officer who participated in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent during the American Revolutionary War.

As the Rodas name spread throughout Spain and its colonies, it gave rise to various place names, such as the town of Rodas in the province of Burgos and the village of Rodasviejas in the province of Valladolid.

Over the centuries, the Rodas surname has been carried by numerous notable individuals, including Manuel Rodas (1821-1898), a Mexican politician and governor of Chihuahua; Catalina Rodas (1862-1938), a Guatemalan poet and feminist activist; and Enrique Rodas (1886-1958), a Peruvian writer and diplomat.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rodas

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Rodas.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Rodas was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 7.12% 806
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.39% 44
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.74% 84
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.13% 15
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.25% 28
Hispanic Origin 91.37% 10,349

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Rodas has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 7.12% 10.32% -36.70%
Black 0.39% 0.34% 13.70%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.74% 1.26% -52.00%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.13% 0.15% -14.29%
Two or More Races 0.25% 0.59% -80.95%
Hispanic 91.37% 87.34% 4.51%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Rodas was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Rodas, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Rodas last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 4, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/rodas-surname-popularity/.

"Rodas last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/rodas-surname-popularity/. Accessed 4 December, 2024

Rodas last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/rodas-surname-popularity/.

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