Rothman
A surname that can be Germanic or Jewish in origin, often meaning either “red man” or “man from Roth/Rot(h),” depending on the family line.
The #6,336 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 57,398 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rothman can arise from more than one naming tradition. In German, it may come from roth/rot, meaning “red,” plus Mann, “man,” giving the sense “red-haired man” or simply “red man.” In some families it is also a habitational surname, from a place-name such as Roth, Rot, or Rothen- plus Mann. In Ashkenazic Jewish usage, the spelling Rothman can reflect German/Yiddish naming patterns and may overlap with similar German surnames.
History
The surname is found in both German-speaking and Jewish communities, so its history is not tied to a single origin story. In English-language records it is often an immigrant surname, especially from central and eastern Europe, and the spelling has been fairly stable in modern use. The 1858 excerpt you supplied suggests an older scholarly association with Germanic forms, but it is not a direct entry for the surname and should be treated cautiously.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Roth- can be a color term or a place-name element, two people named Rothman may have entirely different surname origins.
From the historical record
“pomided with hrolS, raging, commotion, and mund, protection. It is probably the same as our RoTHMAN, Roman, and the German Rott- man. Hryp is probably from Ang.-Sax. ripan. Old Norse hrtja, to plunder, whence English " bereave*" and the diminutive " rifle/' Hence may be oiu* Rkef, Riffin, Riffington, Ref- FLE, and…”
— English Surnames, and their place in the Teutonic family