.jpg) Romantic painting of Visigothic king of Spain. Bernardo Blanco y Pérez (Museo del Prado) Roderic | |
| Gender | Male |
|---|---|
| Name day | March 13 |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Germanic |
| Meaning | "fame/glory/great" + "reiks, king, ruler, leader" |
| Region of origin | Northern Europe; Visigothic Kingdom |
| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) | Hrœrekr, Hrærekur, Rœrekr, Rorik, Rurik, Rúrik, Roddy, Rodrick, Roderic, Roderich, Ruodrich, Chrodericus, Hrodericus, Rodericus, Ludhriq, Rodrigo, Rhoderick |
Roderick, Rodrick or Roderic (Proto-Germanic *Hrōþirīks, from *hrōþiz, lit. 'fame, glory' + *ríks, 'king, ruler') is a Germanic name, recorded from the 8th century onward.[1] Its Old High German forms are Hrodric, Chrodericus, Hroderich, Roderich, Ruodrich, etc.; in Gothic language Hrōþireiks; in Old English language it appears as Hrēðrīc or Hroðrīc, and in Old Norse as Hrǿríkʀ (Old East Norse Hrø̄rīkʀ, Rø̄rīkʀ, Old West Norse as Hrœrekr, Rœrekr).
In the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, the name is reflected as Рюрикъ, i.e. Rurik. In Spanish and Portuguese, it was rendered as Rodrigo, or in its short form, Ruy or Rui, and in Galician, the name is Roy or Roi. In Arabic, the form Ludharīq (لُذَرِيق), used to refer Roderic (Ulfilan Gothic: *Hroþareiks), the last king of the Visigoths. Saint Roderick (d. 857) is one of the Martyrs of Córdoba.
The modern English name does not continue the Anglo-Saxon form but was re-introduced from the continent by the Normans in medieval England. The Middle English given name had also virtually disappeared by the 19th century, even though it had survived as a surname. The given name was re-popularised by Sir Walter Scott's poem The Vision of Don Roderick (1811), where Roderick refers to the Visigothic king. The modern English name is sometimes abbreviated to Roddy.
Roderick is also an Anglicisation of several unrelated names. As a surname and given name it is used as an anglicised form of the Welsh Rhydderch. The given name Roderick is also used as an anglicised form of the Gaelic personal name Rory (Irish: Ruaidhrí, Ruairí; Scottish Gaelic: Ruairidh, Ruaraidh).