Roden
A surname usually tied to a place-name, often meaning someone who lived by a rough or reed-filled valley, or who came from a place called Roden.
The #5,245 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,407 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained as a locational name from one of several places called Roden or Rowden. In Harrison’s account, the first element may relate either to Old English words for a roe or to reeds, with the second element meaning "valley"; he also notes an Old English place-form recorded in a charter. Another line of explanation, reflected in later surname books, connects Roden with clearings or land reclaimed from woodland, from a Germanic root seen in German roden, "to clear."
History
The name appears in English surname collections as a place-based surname, with variants such as Rhoden, Rowden, Rodden, and Roddon. Harrison notes multiple English localities with the name, which helps explain why the surname developed independently in more than one place. The surname is also found in Irish contexts in Woulfe and Matheson, where it appears among anglicized forms of Gaelic names, so some Irish bearers may have a different origin from the English locative surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Matheson records Roden as a Highland surname form in early 19th-century Scottish census-style material, showing how surnames could spread far beyond their original place-name roots.
From the historical record
“RODE, V. Road(e. RODEN (Eng.) i Bel. to Roden ; or Dweller at I the Roe-Valley [O.E. rd, a roe -1- derm, a valley] 2 the Reedy Valley [O.E. hredd, a reed] ' aet Hrodene ' occurs in an A.-Sax. will (' Cart. Sax.' No. 1317). RODERICK (Teut.) Famous Ruler [O.Teut. Hruodric, Ruodric, Hr^rik, etc. (mod. Ger. Roderidi) —…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)