Rodolph

Boys' name

Praise, fame, glory, renown + wolf, through *Hrōþiwulfaz

Rodolph has been given to 189 babies in the U.S. since 1914. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1927, with 18 recorded.

Babies named Rodolph, 1971

1 in 572,000

Rodolph over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Rodolph: meaning, origin, and history

Praise, fame, glory, renown + wolf, through *Hrōþiwulfaz

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Rodolph means

Rodolph belongs to the name family reached through Rodolph → *Hrōþiwulfaz. Its meaning is “praise, fame, glory, renown + wolf”.

Origin, language, and formation

Rodolph is used in English.

Rodolph comes through Proto-Germanic *Hrōþiwulfaz.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Rudolph and *Hrōþiwulfaz.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Rodolph is pronounced /ˈɹəʊdɒlf/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 189 boys were recorded with the name Rodolph between 1914 and 1971. Its highest annual count was 18 in 1927; its best national rank was #1,940 in 1927.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Rodolph?

Rodolph had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1971, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1971: 1 in 572,000; 6 of 3,432,187 births
Among boys only: 1 in 295,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1971: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 396,503 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Rodolph sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1971 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 396,503 children born in 1971 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Rodolph. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Rodolphs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Rodolph was born before 1927 — so the typical Rodolph is around 98 today.

Median birth year: 1927; About 98 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 45.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 15.3%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 23; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 45.5% of all recorded uses (86).

Is Rodolph rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1927 (18)
Years since peak: 98; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 41.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,940; 1927

Spellings of Rodolph

Rodolph is not the most common spelling — Rudolph is, with 34.2% against Rodolph's 0.12%.

Rudolph34.2%53,441
Randolph31.6%49,424
Rodolfo21.6%33,773
Adolph12.0%18,745
Dolph0.40%626
Rodolph0.12%189

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Rodolph around the world

Where Rodolph ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

France
1905–2007
#4,702
in 2007

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Rodolph by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,940; 1927
Peak year: 1927; 18 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 1971
All-time count: 189
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Rodolph

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Rodrygo Rodert Rodarius Rodolphe Rodgers Rodrico Rodricus Roddie Roderic Rodriques Rody Rodderick Rodric Rodrecus Rodgerick Rodrigues Rodel Rodrigus Rodregus Rodner Rodell Roddrick Rodnie Rodrigue

Sibling names for Rodolph

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Darline Leatrice Pearline Ima Belva Edward George Paul

For a brother

Frances Jewel Napoleon Merlin Domenick Jules Bud Hosea

Explore around Rodolph

Top names of 1927, Rodolph's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1927 Boys' names starting with R