what does the name mean?

Question:

Where did the name Rhodes originate from>what does the name mean?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Name History and Origin for Rhodes

Rhodes
English (chiefly Yorkshire): topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing in woodland (see Rode 3). This, the most common form of the name, has been influenced in spelling by the English name of the Greek island of Rhodes (Greek Rhodos), with which there is no connection. There is no connection, either, with modern English road (Old English rad ‘riding’), which was not used to denote a thoroughfare until the 16th century.

Rode
German: from a short form of any of the various Germanic personal names with the first element hrod ‘renown’. Compare Robert, Rudiger.
North German, Danish, and English: topographic name for someone who lived on land cleared for cultivation or in a clearing in woodland, from Middle Low German rode, Danish rothe, Old English rod. Compare English Rhodes.
English: habitational name from any of the many places named with this word, as for example Rode in Cheshire.
Slovenian: topographic name from the adjective rod ‘barren’, denoting someone who lived on a barren land.
Slovenian: nickname from the Slovenian dialect word rode ‘person with disheveled hair’, a derivative of rod ‘curly’ or ‘hairy’.

Robert
English, French, German, Dutch, Hungarian (Róbert), etc: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hrod ‘renown’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. This is found occasionally in England before the Conquest, but in the main it was introduced into England by the Normans and quickly became popular among all classes of society. The surname is also occasionally borne by Jews, as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

German (Rüdiger): from the Germanic personal name Rüdiger, composed of the elements hrod ‘renown’ + gar, ger ‘spear’, ‘lance’ (see Roger).

Roger
Scottish, English, North German, French, and Catalan: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements hrod ‘renown’ +gar, ger ‘spear’, ‘lance’, which was introduced into England by the Normans in the form Rog(i)er. The cognate Old Norse Hróegeirr was a reinforcing influence in Normandy.
Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Ruaidhrí (see Rorie).

Rorie
Scottish and Irish (County Tyrone): Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Ruaidhrí ‘son of Rory’ (see McCrory).

McCrory
Northern Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Ruaidhrí ‘son of Ruaidhrí’ (see Rorie).

Place of
Origin Rhodes Immigrants
England 429
Ireland 49
Great Britain 39
Scotland 18
Germany 17
France 8

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The best way I know for you to learn about your roots is to:

Build your family tree on line.
You can use a paid site like:
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OR You can do this for free on:

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Start with yourself, and then attach living family members.
Find out all you can about you family from living members, then attach it to your tree.
Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree:

It is ALL about census records, and other historical records!

You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"

Free sites:

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http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

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Genealogy message board:

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ECT.
The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file
you can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site)

http://www.ancestry.com/

Upload your "GEDCOM" file
and start to work!
You might need to make a few adjustments to your tree to make it look better. Source(s):
z A more specific answer: If you're talking about a Rhodes Scholar, or the country Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), it came from Cecil Rhodes, the South African mining tycoon from the late 1800s. Rhodes
English (chiefly Yorkshire): topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing in woodland (see Rode 3). This, the most common form of the name, has been influenced in spelling by the English name of the Greek island of Rhodes (Greek Rhodos), with which there is no connection. There is no connection, either, with modern English road (Old English rad ‘riding’), which was not used to denote a thoroughfare until the 16th century.

www.ancestry.com

http://www.houseofnames.com/fc.asp?sid=&...