The RODGERS Surname

The name 'Rodger' derives from the Old English personal name 'Hrodgar', meaning 'famous spear'. Its variant, 'Rodgers', means 'son of Rodger'. From Henry Harrison's "Surnames of the United Kingdom 1912", the following etymology for the name, and its variants, is listed:


  • RODGER  (Teut.)  FAMOUS SPEAR [O. Teut. Hruodger (whence Fr. Roger, Rogier), Hrodgar, Hrodgeirr, etc - O.H.Ger. h) ruod = O.Sax. hrod = O.E. hrod- (hred) = O.N. hrod-r, fame, glory, victory + O.H.Ger. and O.Sax ger = O.E. gar = O.N. geirr, a spear]

  • Rodger is the form in a 10th-11th cent. 'Index Bonorum' of the abbey of Werden-an-der-Ruhr.  The mod. (High) German form is Rudiger.  Cp. Roger

  • RODGERS, RODGER'S (Son) - v. Rodger

  • RODGERSON, RODGER'S SON - v. Rodger

  • RODGIE, a double dim. of Rodger, q.v. [E. dim. suff. -ie]

  • ROGER = Rodger, q.v.
    Rogerus, Rogerius. - Domesday-Book
    See the Quotations from Chaucer, etc., under Hodge.

  • Roger (variantly Rogier) is a common French surname, found also with the dim. suff. -eau (earlier -el), -et, -on. In Wace's 'Roman de Rou' Rogier is the usual form, as 'Rogier de Montgomeri.'

  • ROGERS, ROGER'S (Son) - v. Roger, Rodger

  • ROGERSON, ROGER'S SON - v. Roger, Rodger
    The (Latinized) form of thee patronymics in the 13th-cent. Hundred Rolls is 'fils Rogeri'.
    Many an Irish Mac Rory or Mac Rury has Anglicized his name to Rogers and Rogerson.

In some parts of central Scotland the name is pronounced 'Rodgie', but in Perthshire, where our branch originates, it is often also pronounced as 'Rougie' or 'Royger'.


Created: 01-January-2006 Revised: 01-January-2008