Rodney

The name began as an English place name and surname, derived from an Old English personal name paired with ēg, meaning an island or patch of dry ground in a marsh. It crossed into first-name use during the late eighteenth century after the naval victories of British Admiral George Brydges Rodney. American parents adopted it through nineteenth-century surname transfer, eventually giving it standard rotation by the middle of the twentieth century.

Today the name reads as a man holding a pair of channel-lock pliers in a wood-paneled garage. With an average bearer age of fifty-seven, it belongs firmly to the back end of the baby boom and the front porch of Generation X. It arrived at its peak in 1965, the same year the Astrodome opened, and it carries that brand of unvarnished chrome confidence. The sound is blunt, practical, and heavily stocked with spare fuses. It is difficult to picture a Rodney sending a calendar invite.