Roderick
Masculine · “famous ruler”
Roderick is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 47,183 boys against 263 girls since 1880.
Roderick is a famous ruler, and its most consequential bearer lost Spain: Roderic was the last Visigothic king, defeated in 711 by the army that began the Muslim conquest of the peninsula.
How old is the name Roderick?
Roderick was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Roderick alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 37,500 people named Roderick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Roderick most popular?
Roderick peaked in 1967, reaching #221 nationally. Today it ranks #1743, 1,522 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From hrod + ric to Roderick
The story of Roderick
Roderic was the last Visigothic king of Hispania, killed at the Guadalete in 711, and Spanish kept the name as Rodrigo — El Cid was Rodrigo Díaz. The Germanic form reached Britain through Norse settlement in Scotland, where it anglicized the Gaelic Ruaidhrí, and Walter Scott's 1811 poem gave it a Victorian revival. American use peaked around 1965.
Meaning
famous ruler
From the Germanic hrod, 'fame', and ric, 'ruler' or 'power'. Both elements are among the most productive in Germanic naming: hrod also gives Robert and Roger, ric ends Richard and Frederick. The compound is transparent and undisputed.
How the name formed
- hrod + ric
- Roderic
- Roderick
Related forms: Rodrigo · Roderich · Ruaidhrí · Rodrigo
Pronouncing Roderick
ROD-uh-rik
Three syllables, stress on the first. Spanish Rodrigo stresses the middle.
Nicknames for Roderick
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19701,037 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #221reached in 1967
- Change vs 2022
- −9.7%93 in 2025, from 103
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Roderick in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rodrigo in Spanish — related form
- Roderich in German — related form
- Ruaidhrí in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Rodrigo in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Georgia.
Rodericks among us
people named Roderick are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,366 born in 2025 was named Roderick
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Quentin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Roderick's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Quentin climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Quentin's path sketches the road Roderick is walking now.
Roderick sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Roderick is headed
Roderick is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Roderick beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Roderick in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and both elements are thoroughly documented.
- A genuinely consequential historical bearer, and Rodrigo and Rory as living cousins.
- Rod is available as a short form with an independent record.
- It is a long, formal-sounding name in an era that has favored shorter ones.
- It is closely dated to the 1960s in American records.
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What they receive
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Roderick
Masculine · #1743 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rodericks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 37,500 people named Roderick are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Roderick in 2025?
- Roderick ranks #1743 among US boy names in 2025, with 93 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Roderick?
- About 1 in every 18,366 US boys born in 2025 was named Roderick — 93 in all.
- Will my child share the name Roderick with classmates?
- Roderick will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Roderick
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ender#1743 · Nate#1743 · Deion#1743 · Rain#1743 · Laurence#1743 · Augustin#1743 · Jovan#1743 · Nyaire#1743
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Roderick? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Roderick and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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