Meaning & Origin
A habitational surname from Old English.
Rodney is a boy's and girl's baby name of Old English origin, from the habitational surname meaning "Hroda's island" — from an Old English personal name combined with ēg ("island"). It transferred from surname to given name in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Rodney ranked in the U.S. top 25 boys' names from the 1940s through the 1960s. Comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who built his entire career around the catchphrase "I don't get no respect," gave the name its most memorable cultural association. It's a name with a self-deprecating charm that's hard not to love.