Revision History

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12/7/2022, 9:35 PM Mike C update #113
1/21/2022, 9:40 PM Mike C update #111
5/29/2020, 9:30 PM Mike C update #108
11/16/2019, 11:04 AM Mike C update #105
1/22/2019, 10:01 AM Mike C update #101
12/3/2014, 12:28 AM Mike C update #89
2/12/2007, 1:03 AM Mike C earliest recorded revision

Gender Masculine
Pronounced Pron. RAHD-ə-rik(English) RAHD-rik(English)

Meaning & History

Means "famous ruler" from the Old German elements hruod "fame" and rih "ruler, king". This name was in use among the Visigoths; it was borne by their last king (Gothic form *Hroþireiks, also known by the Spanish form Rodrigo), who died fighting the Muslim invaders of Spain in the 8th century. It also had cognates in Old Norse and West Germanic, and Scandinavian settlers and Normans introduced it to England, though it died out after the Middle Ages. It was revived in the English-speaking world by Walter Scott's 1811 poem The Vision of Don Roderick [1].

This name has also functioned as an Anglicized form of Scottish Ruaridh or Welsh Rhydderch.