The personal name Rodney originated as a toponym: Rodney Stoke in Somerset derived its name from an Anglo-Saxon name meaning "Hroda's island" (Hroda being a short form of an Anglo-Saxon name beginning with the element hrod- "fame").Rodney became a surname in the 18th century, and a title of the peerage of Great Britain in 1782, as Baron Rodney. Secondarily, it came to be used as a given name, originally in honour of Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney.
