This interesting surname of English origin with variant spellings Rodman, Rodgman, Roggeman, etc. is an occupational name for a riding servitor or attendant on horseback. In feudal times Rodmen were "certain servitors who held their lands by serving their lords on horseback". The surname dates back to the late 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one John Rodemande who married Joone Marne on January 23rd 1547, at Allhallows, Honey Lane, London, Susanna, daughter of Hugh and Susanne Rodeman, was christened on April 15th 1616, at St. Botolph without Aldgate, London, and Thomas, son of Thomas and Blanche Rodman, was christened on June 16th 1622, at St. Mary Somerset, London. John Rodman was christened at St. Saviour's, Southwark, on March 29th 1780. One Sarah Rodman, an emigrant to the New World, is recorded as a promment land owner in the parish of Christ Church in the Barbadoes, in 1680. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Rodman, Northamptonshire, which was dated 1772, Testa de Neville, sive Liber Feodorum, during the reign of King Henry 111, "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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