A male name. Old English Hrothgar was reinforced at the time of the Norman Conquest by French Roger, from the corresponding Old German Hrodgar, compound of hrothi ‘fame’ and gairu ‘spear’. Rogerus is frequent in Domesday Book, and Roger was a favourite throughout the Middle Ages. Together with its nicknames Hodge and Dodge, it gave rise to a multitude of surnames, e.g. Roger, Rogers, Rodger, Rodgers, Hodge, Hodges, Dodge, Hodgkins, Hodgkiss, Hotchkiss, Hodgkinson, &c. The colloquial use of Hodge to denote an agricultural labourer is an indication of the former frequency of the name. After falling into desuetude in the 18th at.d 19th C (though it was always used in some families), Roger has now regained some measure of favour. Rogerus, Rogerius Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1071-5, Domesday Book 1086, Curia Regis Rolls 1186-1230, Hundred Rolls 1273, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Rotgerius Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum 1088-91.

In Teutonic, ‘spear of fame,’ it is literally ‘fame-spear’ and its earliest form Hruodgeir or, as in the Nibelungelied, Hruodger. In the Middle Ages a knightly name, it had, by C17 or even earlier, become a general one, especially in the ‘truly rural’ districts: witness the obsolete diminutive Hodge, which has long been generic for a rustic. There are even three Saints Roger, though none before C12—or after C16. (For its slang meanings, see my Unconventional English.)

Some translate this name ‘spear of fame;’ others, ‘spear-red.’ It comes from the Old German name Rotger, var. Ratgar, Rudiger, Ruedeger, Rodiger, Hruodiger, Hruodiker, the Hrothgar of Beowulf; from rat-gar, a war councillor; or rat-gar, prompt in counsel. The nickname is Hodge, doubtless originally Rodge.

Teutonic (masculine) - A man of his word.