Rodrigo
Masculine · “famous ruler”
Rodrigo is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 27,754 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Rodrigo is the Iberian form of an old Germanic name built from words for fame and ruling power, and it has been said aloud in Spain and Portugal for well over a thousand years. It belonged to the last Visigothic king of Hispania, and later to Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the eleventh-century Castilian knight remembered as El Cid. Three syllables, a rolled or tapped r at the front, and a long open ending — a name that has never needed shortening to sound complete.
How old is the name Rodrigo?
Rodrigo first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Rodrigo alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 26,500 people named Rodrigo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rodrigo most popular?
Rodrigo peaked in 2007, reaching #291 nationally. Today it ranks #491, 200 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Rodrigo appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Hrodric to Rodrigo
The story of Rodrigo
The name came into Spain with the Visigoths as Hrodric, latinized in charters as Rodericus, and settled into Spanish and Portuguese as Rodrigo. Roderic, the last Visigothic king of Hispania, died in battle in 711, and his name stayed in use through the medieval Christian kingdoms; medieval Castilian also clipped it to Ruy, the form used for Ruy Díaz de Vivar, the knight known as El Cid. So many men carried it that the patronymic Rodríguez — 'son of Rodrigo' — became one of the most widespread surnames in the Spanish-speaking world, with Rodrigues doing the same work in Portuguese. It traveled to the Americas with Iberian settlement and has been part of the naming stock of Latin America ever since, arriving in US records in the early twentieth century.
Meaning
famous ruler, renowned in power
From the Germanic elements hrod, 'fame, glory', and ric, 'power, ruler' — the same pair behind English Roderick.
How the name formed
- Hrodric
- Rodericus
- Roderic
- Rodrigo
- Ruy
Related forms: Rodrigo · Roderick · Rodrigue · Roderich · Rodrigo · Roderic
Pronouncing Rodrigo
roh-DREE-goh
In Spanish and Portuguese the r is tapped and the stress falls squarely on the middle syllable. English speakers usually land on ruh-DREE-goh, which is close enough that nobody stumbles.
Nicknames for Rodrigo
High
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
- 1918
- Most boys named
- 20081,014 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #291reached in 2007
- Change vs 2023
- +1.2%614 in 2025, from 607
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.
Rodrigo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rodrigo in Portuguese — same name
- Roderick in English — same name
- Rodrigue in French — same name
- Roderich in German — same name
- Rodrigo in Italian — same name
- Roderic in Catalan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Rodrigos among us
people named Rodrigo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,782 born in 2025 was named Rodrigo
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 Ernesto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rodrigo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ernesto climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ernesto's path sketches the road Rodrigo is walking now.
Rodrigo 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 Rodrigo is headed
Rodrigo should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Rodrigo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rodrigo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling across Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and beyond — no variant to correct, and it reads the same on paper in every one of them.
- A documented record stretching back to the Visigothic kings of Hispania, so it has never had to be revived.
- Several ready-made short forms in real use: Rodri, Digo, Rigo, and the medieval Ruy.
- Familiar to nearly everyone in the US without being common in any one classroom.
- Outside Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking settings it will often be flattened to Rod, which has a distinctly mid-century sound in English. Worth deciding in advance whether that bothers you.
- The name is firmly identified with Iberian and Latin American heritage. That is a strength for many families and a mismatch for others, particularly alongside a very short Anglo surname.
- Three syllables with the stress in the middle means the full form rarely survives on a playground — expect the shortened version to do most of the daily work.
- Because Rodríguez is such a widespread surname, some people will hear the given name as a family name first and ask twice.
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What they receive
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Rodrigo
Masculine · #491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rodrigos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 26,500 people named Rodrigo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rodrigo in 2025?
- Rodrigo ranks #491 among US boy names in 2025, with 614 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rodrigo?
- About 1 in every 2,782 US boys born in 2025 was named Rodrigo — 614 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rodrigo with classmates?
- Rodrigo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rodrigo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Caspian#491 · Arjun#490 · Sean#489 · Collin#493 · Leland#494 · Donovan#495 · Armani#495 · Edgar#486
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rodrigo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rodrigo and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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