# Rodney (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/rodney/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “hroda's island”, “fame”, “island” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɹɑdni/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Rodders |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 248,325 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 247,150 / 1,175 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 238, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English placename Hrōdanīeġ, Hrōdanīġ (literally “Hroda's island”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōþiz (“fame”) and *awjō (“island”).

## What it means

Rodney is grouped under famous.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 25 | 3,394 |
| 1981 | 26 | 3,318 |
| 1982 | 11 | 6,256 |
| 1983 | 19 | 4,077 |
| 1984 | 19 | 4,129 |
| 1985 | 18 | 4,412 |
| 1986 | 17 | 4,686 |
| 1987 | 14 | 5,545 |
| 1988 | 10 | 7,548 |
| 1989 | 12 | 6,856 |
| 1990 | 7 | 11,098 |
| 1991 | 6 | 12,728 |
| 1992 | 8 | 10,246 |
| 1994 | 6 | 13,044 |
| 2000 | 9 | 10,556 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 461 | 554 |
| 2012 | 430 | 594 |
| 2013 | 392 | 629 |
| 2014 | 357 | 697 |
| 2015 | 347 | 716 |
| 2016 | 341 | 719 |
| 2017 | 301 | 782 |
| 2018 | 273 | 821 |
| 2019 | 262 | 854 |
| 2020 | 262 | 864 |
| 2021 | 234 | 962 |
| 2022 | 228 | 990 |
| 2023 | 183 | 1,148 |
| 2024 | 202 | 1,080 |
| 2025 | 197 | 1,093 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8 | 2,318 |
| 2010 | 11 | 1,911 |
| 2011 | 7 | 2,613 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2015 | 5 | 3,373 |
| 2016 | 10 | 2,175 |
| 2017 | 7 | 2,734 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,011 |
| 2019 | 4 | 3,937 |
| 2020 | 7 | 2,682 |
| 2021 | 10 | 2,125 |
| 2022 | 9 | 2,320 |
| 2023 | 12 | 1,906 |
| 2024 | 8 | 2,671 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2,269 |

## People named Rodney

- Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist and Nobel laureate (1917–1985)
- Rodney King, African American police brutality victim (1965–2012)
- Rodney Mullen, American professional skateboarder
- Rodney Wallace, Costa Rican footballer
- Rodney Alcala, American serial killer (1943–2021)
- Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player (born 1986)
- Richard Rodney Bennett, British composer and pianist (1936-2012)
- Rodney Jerkins, American record producer and rapper
- Rodney Brooks, Australian roboticist
- Rodney Hood, American basketball player (born 1992)
- Rodney Crowell, American musician
- Rodney Stark, American sociologist of religion (1934–2022)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.