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Rodríguez History Etymology Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables World Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Suggested Reading Sources

Rodríguez History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Spain

Etymology of Rodríguez

What does the name Rodríguez mean?

Brittany is the region of ancient France from which the name Rodríguez was derived. It comes from when the family lived in Brittany.

Early Origins of the Rodríguez family

The surname Rodríguez was first found in Brittany (French: Bretagne).

Jean Rodrigue, son of Jean and Suzanne (née Lacroix) of Lisbon, Portugal, travelled to Quebec in the 17th century. He married Anne Le Roy on 28th October 1671. 1

Early History of the Rodríguez family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Rodríguez research. The years 1697, 1717 and 1741 are included under the topic Early Rodríguez History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Rodríguez Spelling Variations

There were a great number of spelling variations in French surnames. One reason for this was the wide variety of cultural influences present in France during the early development of the French language. The many spelling variations of the name include Rodrigue, Roderigue, Rodrigues, Roderigues and many more.

Early Notables of the Rodríguez family

Notable amongst this name at this time was Jean-Ignace de Roderigue, who was a Jesuit scholar born in 1697 in Malmedy, near Aix-la-Chapelle. In 1717 he entered the Company of Jesus, to which he was faithful for eight years. After having travelled, he settled...
Another 43 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Rodríguez Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Rodríguez World Ranking

In the United States, the name Rodríguez is the 22^nd most popular surname with an estimated 569,523 people with that name. 2 However, in Canada, the name Rodríguez is ranked the 798^th most popular surname with an estimated 6,731 people with that name. 3 And in Quebec, Canada, the name Rodríguez is the 575^th popular surname. 4 France ranks Rodríguez as 102^nd with 28,759 people. 5 South America ranks Rodríguez as 2^nd with 483 people. 6

Rodríguez migration to the United States +

France was active as a cultural leader in the early 16th century. One particular area in which they lead was the exploration of the New World. The explorers, like Jacques Cartier in 1534, led the way to North America. Champlain, in 1608, made the first of twenty voyages to France to attract settlers and brought the first migrant in 1617. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec, and the French Acadian presence in the Maritimes had reached 500. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The family name Rodríguez has made many distinguished contributions in France and New France to the world of science, culture, religion, and education. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Rodríguez were

Rodríguez Settlers in United States in the 16th Century

Juan Rodríguez Serrano voyaged with Magellan as far as the Philippines, and commanded the fleet after Magellan's death in 1521
Vicente Rodríguez, who immigrated to Peru in 1560
Beatriz Rodríguez, settled in Puerto Rico in 1560
Sebastian Rodríguez, settled in Colombia in 1561
Pedro Rodríguez, who landed in Florida in 1563
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Rodríguez Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Cipriano Rodriguez, who landed in Puerto Rico in 1802 7
Cristobal Rodriguez, who arrived in America in 1812 7
Catalina Rodriguez, who arrived in America in 1817 7
Fernando Rodriguez, who landed in America in 1817 7
Alexandro Rodriguez, aged 32, who landed in New Orleans, La in 1825 7
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Rodríguez Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Celestino Rodriguez, who arrived in Alabama in 1919 7

Rodríguez migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Rodríguez Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Pierre Rodriguez married in Deschambault, Quebec in 1749

Rodríguez migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 8

Rodríguez Settlers in West Indies in the 16th Century

Juan Rodríguez, who landed in Cuba in 1563

Rodríguez Settlers in West Indies in the 19th Century

Aparicio Rodriguez, who landed in Dominican Republic in 1836 7

Contemporary Notables of the name Rodríguez (post 1700) +

Juan Antonio "Chi Chi" Rodriguez (1935-2024), Puerto Rican professional golfer, the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame; during his career he had 37 professional wins
John "Danny" Rodríguez Jr. (1945-2024), American bongo player of Puerto Rican descent
Pete Rodriguez (1934-2024), also known as Pete Rodriguez y su Conjunto, American pianist and bandleader born in The Bronx, New York
Etterlene Louise Rodriguez (1935-2024), (previously DeBarge, née Abney), American gospel singer, songwriter, and the matriarch of the American R&B/soul vocal group DeBarge
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (1942-2023), known professionally as Rodriguez, an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan; his music was extremely successful and influential in South Africa, where he is believed to have sold more records than Elvis Presley
Michaela Antonia Jaé "MJ" Rodriguez (b. 1991), American Gold Globe Award winning and Emmy Award nominated actress and singer, born in Newark, New Jersey
Gloria Rodríguez (1970-2022), better known by her stage name Hurricane G, an American rapper of Puerto Rican descent
Diane Rodriguez (1951-2020), American OBIE Award winning theatre artist who directed, wrote and performed
David Rodriguez (1952-2015), American folk music singer-songwriter, performer and poet
Manuel Gómez Rodríguez Gómez (1928-2006), American neurologist
... (Another 119 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Rodríguez family +

RMS Titanic

Mr. Servando José Florentino Ovies y Rodriguez (d. 1912), aged 36, Cubian First Class passenger from Havana, Cuba who sailed aboard the RMS Titanic and died in the sinking and was recovered by CS Mackay-Bennett 9

Sources +

Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
"Surnames Meanings, Origins & Distribution Maps - Forebears." Forebears, https://forebears.io/surnames
"The first 1,000 family names by rank, Quebec (in French only)" Institut de la statistique du Quebec, https://statistique.quebec.ca/en/document/family-names-in-quebec/tableau/the-first-1000-family-names-by-rank-quebec
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
"List of most common surnames in South America." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_common_surnames_in_South_America
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
Titanic Passenger List - Titanic Facts. (Retrieved 2016, July 13) . Retrieved from http://www.titanicfacts.net/titanic-passenger-list.html