The RODRIGUE Surname

Where does the Rodrigue surname come from?

The surname has a Germanic origin: HROD-RIC . HROD means GLORY; it is found in many other names, like HDROD-WULF, which gave RODOLPHE or RUDOLF. RIC means WEALTH or POWER; our modern word RICH would be derived from it (in the Frankish language, RIKI meant POWERFUL).

So the Rodrigue would be of Germanic descent. As the surname is very widely used in the Iberian Peninsula, one might reason that it would have been introduced by the Wisigiths, a Germanic people which settled in Spain and in the South of France from the VIth Century. Besides, one of their kings (in fact, the last one) was named RODERIC. With the latinization of the Wisigoths, the name RODERIC became RODERIGO, and then RODRIGO. From this forename came the Spanish surname RODRIGUEZ (son of RODRIGO), which was slightly altered to become RODRIGUES in Portugal.

The RODRIGUEZ surname is very common in the Iberian world, as we have seen above; it has also been adopted among the Jewish population of the peninsula. Because of the Inquisition which was conducted there after the Reconquista from the Arabs, many Spanish Jews had to leave their country; so we can find in France, at that period, some Jewish families named RODRIGUEZ. Some have even gone further: I have been in contact with a Turkish RODRIGUE (and yes, without the final z) of Jewish origin, whose ancestors settled in Turkey as early as the XVth Century, and who is now living in Ankara.

And what about us, the Rodrigue of North America? What is our origin? To this question, many answers can be given. As a result of my research, I have been able to identify 5 different lineages: 4 Portuguese lineages and 1 Spanish lineage. The ancestors of these four lineages which will be described in more detail in the lineages page, have all had descendants in Québec (and elsewhere). A sixth RODRIGUE also settled in Québec; of Spanish origin (from Majorca, in the Balearic Islands), he does not seem to have had any descendant. Here are the name and origine of these ancestors:

1. João Rodrigues (João Rodrigues & Susana da Cruz), from Lisbon, Portugal; he settled in the Québec region towards 1665; he married in Beauport in 1671.
   
   
2. João Rodrigues (João Rodrigues & Vicencia Catanes), also from Lisbon, Portugal; he settled in the Chambly region (south of Montréal) where he got married in 1816; he later on moved to Napierville.
   
   
3. João Baptista Rodrigues da Fonte (João Rodrigues & Ana Mança), from Viana do Castelo, Portugal; settled in Acadia circa 1707; he married in Port-Royal in 1707.
   
   
4. Pedro Rodriguez (Manuel Rodriguez & María Fresso?), from the region of Toledo, Spain; he settled in Deschambault (between Québec and Trois-Rivières), where he got married in 1749.
   
   
5. Sebastião Rodrigues (João Rodrigues & Maria Rodrigues); he settled in the Soulanges region, and he married in Les Cèdres in 1755. He was from Evora, Portugal.
   
   
6. Bartolomé Rodriguez (Antonio Rodriguez & María Lacuberta?), from the island of Majorca (Balearic Islands, Spain); he got married in Notre-Dame church in Montréal in 1798, but he does not seem to have had any descendant.

Réal Rodrigue