Rhodes surname: meaning, census count and records | FamilyCrests

The Rhodes surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 90,670 people carried this name — #343 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 3,250 people counted. That is up 2% from 88,917 in 2000.

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What the name means

The meaning of the Rhodes surname

A topographic surname for a person who lived near woodland clearings, or a habitational one for someone from a place so named.

From rodes, the plural form of Middle English rode, from Old English rod, rodu. The Rh- form—a 16th century spelling modification—was created by analogy with the unrelated Rhodes, Greece.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Rhodes» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

In France’s civil register

France’s register of deaths holds 414 people named Rhodes.

36 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 41 départements, most often Ariège.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they were born

Born outside France 36
Ariège 56
Cantal 40
Haute-Garonne 34
Paris 34
Corrèze 29
Lot 28
Dordogne 24
Lot-et-Garonne 14

Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.

In Switzerland’s population statistics

30 people named Rhodes live in Switzerland.

They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Vaud.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Vaud 8
Ticino 6
Valais 6
Bern 5
Glarus 5

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.

In the Nordic population registers

37 people named Rhodes is counted in Sweden.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 37

Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).

In print

Rhodes in American newspapers,
1896–1916.

Newspaper page from The Anaconda Standard carrying the name Rhodes
The Anaconda Standard 1899-10-29
Newspaper page from Tensas Gazette carrying the name Rhodes
Tensas Gazette 1916-01-08
Newspaper page from The Canton Times carrying the name Rhodes
The Canton Times 1896-08-07

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 482,788 pages in all carry the name.

Who carried it

People named Rhodes,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Nell Holdsworth
    Nell Holdsworth d. 1954
  • Rose Mariehau Rhodes d. 1986
  • Charles Rhodes d. 1882
  • Margaret Catherine Phillips d. 1915
  • Beatrice Zoë Sutton d. 1921
  • Earl Bernard Rhodes d. 2011

Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Rhodes.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Rhodes is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See what a volume holds
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