Rogers
A patronymic surname meaning “son of Roger,” with some Irish families adopting it as an Anglicized form of Mac Rory or Mac Rury.
The #66 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,021 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rogers is a patronymic surname built from the personal name Roger, with the English possessive or family suffix -s meaning “son of.” The forename Roger came into English through Norman French and ultimately from Germanic roots often explained as meaning “fame” plus “spear.” In medieval records, forms such as Rogeri and Rogerus appear, and later surnames like Rogers, Rodgers, and Rogerson developed from the same base.
History
The name is well established in England by the Middle Ages and appears in early documentary forms and landholding families. Some bearer lines are explicitly recorded as taking the surname from an ancestor named Roger, while one noted Devon and Shropshire family histories preserve that pattern. Harrison also remarks that some Irish Mac Rory or Mac Rury families Anglicized their names to Rogers, so the surname can have both English patronymic and Irish adaptation lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old explanation links Rogers, Rodgers, Rogerson, and even Welsh Ap-Roger all back to the same personal name Roger.
From the historical record
“as ' Rogier de Montgomeri.' ROGERS, Roger's (Son) "1 „ r.^^^^ p«^«„„ ROGERSON.Roger'sSon) ^- Ro^*""' Rodgen. The (Latinized) form of these patrony- mics in the i3th-cent. Hundred-Rolls is ' ill. Rogeri.' Many an Irish Mac Rory or Mac Rury has Anglicized his name to Rogers and Rogerson. ROHAN (Celt.) Of Red…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Rogers
- Ginger Rogers (1911–1995)
- Captain America
- Carl Rogers (1902–1987)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.