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

Rodríguez, 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 Rodríguez surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Rodríguez in America

Rodríguez is the 149395th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Rodríguez surname appeared 110 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Rodríguez.

The history of the last name Rodríguez

The surname Rodriguez originated in Spain and Portugal during the medieval era. It derives from the Spanish and Portuguese given name Rodrigo, which in turn comes from the Germanic name Roderick, meaning "famous power." The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 9th century in the Iberian Peninsula.

Rodriguez is a patronymic surname, meaning it was initially formed by adding the Spanish patronymic suffix "-ez" to the father's given name Rodrigo. This practice of adopting paternal surnames was common in medieval Spain and Portugal. Over time, the name evolved into various spellings, including Rodrigues, Rodríguez, and Rodgriguez.

Historical records from Spain and Portugal include numerous mentions of individuals bearing the Rodriguez surname. For instance, the 13th-century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid" features a character named Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, also known as El Cid, a celebrated military leader and national hero. Another notable figure was Pedro Rodriguez de Campomanes (1723-1802), a Spanish statesman and reformer who served as the President of the Council of Castile.

In Portugal, one of the earliest recorded instances of the surname is Fernão Rodrigues Penteado, a 14th-century nobleman and landowner who played a significant role in the Portuguese Reconquista. Additionally, João Rodrigues Cabrilho (c. 1499-1543), a Portuguese explorer, is credited with discovering the land that is now known as California in 1542.

Other prominent individuals with the Rodriguez surname include Ventura Rodriguez (1717-1785), a Spanish architect who designed several notable buildings in Madrid, and Sebastián Rodríguez (1552-1627), a Spanish missionary and linguist who worked extensively in Japan and wrote one of the earliest Japanese-Portuguese dictionaries.

The surname Rodriguez has also been associated with various place names in Spain and Portugal, such as Rodríguez de la Fuente, a municipality in the province of Teruel, Spain, and Rodrigues, a small island in the Indian Ocean that is an autonomous outer territory of Mauritius.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Rodríguez

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

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 Rodríguez was:

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.

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 Rodríguez was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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