Rhodes
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Meaning
surname/place name, from rood (cross) or roses
The story
Rhodes can point toward two landscapes without pretending they are the same. The English surname may come from an Old English word for cleared land. Separately, Rhodes is the Greek island once watched over by the Colossus, an enormous bronze image of the sun god Helios. Ancient writers counted it among the wonders of the world, although its exact pose and appearance remain uncertain. It probably did not straddle the harbor entrance like later pictures suggest. An earthquake brought it down after a relatively short life, but the lost statue became more durable in imagination than many monuments that survived. The island association does not settle every family's surname history, and the English root does not explain the Greek place. Keeping both routes visible gives Rhodes its range: a clearing on one side, a sunlit island and vanished giant on the other. The name invites exploration without forcing one landscape to claim the other.
How popular is Rhodes around the world?
In the United States, 2,112 babies were named Rhodes between 2020 and 2025. In Canada, 50 boys named Rhodes were born in 2024, the 560th most common name among boys that year.
Rhodes is on the official records of the United States, Canada, Scotland and England and Wales.
United States
1 in 10,000
In the United States, 2,112 babies were named Rhodes between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Rhodes peaked in the 2020s. Rhodes went to 63 US babies in 2015 and 557 in 2025, 8.8 times as many.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 6,600
In Canada, 50 boys named Rhodes were born in 2024, the 560th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
1 in 9,200
In Scotland, 5 boys named Rhodes were registered in 2024, the 535th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 15,000
In England and Wales, 36 boys named Rhodes were born in 2025, the 873rd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
South Australia
last on record 2000
Rhodes is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Rhodes
Most people given the name Rhodes in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Rhodes deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Rhodes truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Rhodes fits with your family’s names and surname.
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