Rodrick
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "famous power".
Name Census estimates that about 8,101 living Americans carry the first name Rodrick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Rodrick today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rodrick births was 1977 (273 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rodrick. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
8.1K
~ 1 in 42,310 Americans
Peak year
1977
273 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,573
Tracked since 1914
Census
Rodrick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,300 people with the first name Rodrick, which placed it at #3,366 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,366
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,300 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
71.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rodrick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodrick is Black at 71.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Rodrick described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Rodrick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American71.8% · 4,526
- White18.2% · 1,147
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 255
- Two or more races3.2% · 202
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 92
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 78
Gender
Gender distribution for Rodrick
Out of the 8,943 babies given the name Rodrick since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Rodrick as a male name
- Ranked #3,573 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1977 (273 births)
Rodrick as a female name
- Ranked #9,845 in 1974
- 5 female births in 1974
- Peak: 1974 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,296 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Rodrick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rodrick from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,216 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Rodrick by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Rodrick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rodricks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Rodrick, while Washington, New Jersey, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 226 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rodrick
The given name Rodrick has its origins in the Old Germanic language group and is a compound name formed from the elements "hrod" meaning "fame" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler." The name is believed to have emerged around the 5th century CE, during the Migration Period when various Germanic tribes were on the move across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rodrick can be found in the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century manuscript containing a translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. In this text, the name appears as "Rodareiks," which is considered a variant spelling of the same name.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Rodrick was particularly popular among the Frankish and Anglo-Saxon nobility. One notable figure from this period was Rodrick the Bald (c. 800 - 885 CE), a Frankish nobleman who served as a military commander under the Carolingian dynasty.
During the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the name Rodrick gained further prominence. Rodrick of Ivry (c. 1035 - 1092 CE) was a Norman knight who participated in the Battle of Hastings and later became the Lord of Ivry in Normandy.
In the 12th century, Rodrick de Beaumont (c. 1115 - 1195 CE) was an English nobleman and one of the principal leaders of the Second Crusade. He was also known for his involvement in the construction of several castles and abbeys in England.
Moving into the Renaissance period, Rodrick Borgia (1431 - 1503 CE) was a prominent member of the powerful Borgia family in Italy. He served as the Prince of Squillace and was a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.
Throughout its long history, the name Rodrick has maintained a strong association with nobility, military prowess, and leadership. While its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, it remains a distinctive and historically significant given name with deep Germanic roots.
People
Rodrick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rodrick as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Rodrick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rodrick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,101 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rodrick going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 42,310 US residents.
Is Rodrick a common name?
We classify Rodrick as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,943 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rodrick most popular?
The single biggest year for Rodrick was 1977, when 273 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rodrick is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Rodrick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,300 people with the name Rodrick, or 2.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,366 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Rodrick in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Rodrick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rodrick appears almost entirely male. Of the 6,296 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Rodrick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rodrick is Black at 71.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Rodrick most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Rodrick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.8% (4,526 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Rodrick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rodrick a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Rodrick in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Rodrick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rodrick in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Rodrick can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Rodrick?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.