Rogers


Select Rogers Surname Genealogy

Rogers is a patromymic surname, deriving from the given name Roger (from hrod meaning "renown" and gari "spear") that was commonly used by the Normans. 

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England.  It was mainly to be found in the west country.  Henry Rogeres was recorded in the tax rolls for Worcestershire in 1327; Thomas Rogers built Rogers Manor in Bradford in Wiltshire in 1450; and Rogers were prominent merchants in Bristol and Plymouth in the 16th century.  The name also cropped up in Devon and Cornwall.   John Rogers, born in Warwickshire, was the first Protestant martyr of the bloody reign of Queen Mary.

Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.  This patronymic surname was to be found in SW Scotland as Rodgers and in Wales (with the "g" silent) as Prosser (ap Roger).   Rogers was taken to Ireland in Cromwellian times where it became used as an anglicization for the Gaelic Mac Ruaidhrí or McRory, an Ulster name n Derry and Tyrone meaning "red king."

America.  Thomas Rogers was a Mayflower passenger who died at Plymouth during the first winter.  A fellow passenger wrote:

"Thomas Rogers and Joseph his son came.  His other children came afterwards.  Thomas Rogers died in the first sickness but his son Joseph is still living and is married and hath six children."

John Rogers, who arrived on the Increase in 1635, settled in New London, Connecticut.  He was the founder of a radical religious sect known as the Rogerenes.  Interestingly, a line descends from Adam Rogers, a mulatto slave freed by the family in the early 1700's.

Select Rogers Names

Woodes Rogers was an 18th century English privateer who became Governor of Bermuda.
Henry H. Rogers was known as the brains of the Standard Oil Trust and considered one of the last great robber barons of his day.
Will Rogers, known as Oklahoma's favorite son, was a popular vaudeville artist and movie actor of the 1920's and 1930's.
Ginger Rogers, the dance partner to Fred Astaire, was born Virginia McMath.
Roy Rogers was the well-known cowboy actor and singer.
Carl Rogers from Chicago was one of the foremost psychologists of the 20th century.
Richard Rogers is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs, most notably with the Pompidou Center in Paris.
Kenny Rogers is the popular American country music singer from Texas. 

Select Rogers Today

  • 75,000 in the UK (most numerous in Surrey)
  • 95,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
  • 44,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Australia)

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For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.

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