Rodman
Masculine
Rodman has two proposed origins and they are not close. One makes it a mounted man — a rider, a messenger, a retainer who traveled — from the old word for a ride or a road. The other makes it a Germanic personal name compounded from fame and man. The surname records cannot separate them.
How old is the name Rodman?
Rodman first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Rodman alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 600 people named Rodman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rodman most popular?
Rodman peaked in 1928, reaching #1228 nationally. See the whole 1928 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From An old word for a ride, or a Germanic name element to Rodman
Our story of Rodman
The other rod is a measurement, and it is still in the ground under every American farm. A rod is sixteen and a half feet, an awkward number that comes from an older reckoning; forty rods make a furlong, four rods make a chain, and an acre is a chain by a furlong, which is to say four rods by forty. That is why an acre is the shape it is: it was the strip a team could plow in a day, and the units were built around the work rather than around the arithmetic. The rod is obsolete for everything else and survives here, quietly defining the unit that American land is still bought and sold in.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Both proposals are respectable and neither is demonstrable. The first gives an occupation, the second a personal name that later became a surname in the ordinary way. Since the two would have produced identical spellings within a generation of each other, the written record cannot decide between them.
How the name formed
- An old word for a ride, or a Germanic name element
- An English surname by either route
- Crossing to first-name use in America
- Rodman in the registers from the early twentieth century
Pronouncing Rodman
ROD-mun
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced almost to nothing. That reduction is why the ending is written man and said mun, as it is in every English name that closes the same way.
Nicknames for Rodman
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 192032 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1228reached in 1928
- Change vs 2014
- −44.4%5 in 2024, from 9
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.
Rodmans among us
people named Rodman are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Rodman sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Rod is available immediately and is a complete name of its own.
- The sound is clear and needs no coaching from anybody.
- It works well with a wide range of surnames and rhythms.
- No meaning can be given, because two origins fit equally well.
- It reads as a surname, which is the point for some families and not others.
- It is firmly of the early twentieth century.
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Rodman
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Rodmans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Rodman are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rodman in 2025?
- Rodman is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Rodman with classmates?
- Rodman will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More R names
The most-given names starting with R, all years combined.
Robert#92 · Richard#234 · Ronald#637 · Ryan#99 · Raymond#394 · Roger#832 · Ralph#1046 · Roy#525
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rodman? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rodman and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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