Rodrigo
Meaning
famous ruler
Goes by Rodri
Famously borne by Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Castilian commander known as El Cid. Famously borne by Spain's Rodrigo Hernández, the Ballon d'Or winner known as Rodri.
The story
Rodrigo is the name behind the legend: Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar is the knight history calls El Cid, and our Jimena page tells his wife's side of the marriage. The name itself is the old Germanic Roderic, famous ruler, and the references class it as a Spanish and Portuguese name. The American record climbed for most of a century: about 177 boys in the 1920s, 592 in the 1960s, 2,100 in the 1980s, 5,000 in the 1990s, 8,000 in the 2000s, then 6,200 in the 2010s and 3,400 so far this decade. In our records it goes to boys about 27,800 to five girls. A medieval hero, a modern classic, and a household where both halves of an eleventh-century marriage now have their pages.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Rodrigo peaked in the 2010s.
Popularity in Brazil
561,663 people · the #30 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 362 · median age 34
Among people named Rodrigo living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 5,678 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Rodrigo
Most people given the name Rodrigo in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Rodrigo deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Rodrigo 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 Rodrigo fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Rodrigo travels
Mexican American · famous ruler (Spanish form of Roderick)
Keep exploring
Nicknames for Rodrigo · Spanish baby names · Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Filipino American baby names · Mexican American baby names
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