Rudolph

German

"famous wolf"

Rudolph Origin and Meaning

The name Rudolph is a boy's name of German origin meaning "famous wolf".

Sure, he'd probably get a certain amount of red-nosed teasing around the holiday, but a boy named Rudolph could probably take it. Besides, he's got other, more distinguished namesakes -- the great ballet dancer Nureyev, silent screen Lothario Valentino and 9-11 Mayor Giuliani.

Softening short form Rudy has stood on its own long enough to have been consistently in the Top 1000 for as long as Social Security records have been tallied, while Rudolph has been off for decades. Can it be one of the German names for boysprime for a comeback?

The name was spread in England via the Anthony Hope novel Prisoner of Zenda, which set the fashion for romantic adventure stories in imaginary Balkan countries in the early 20th century.

Rudolph Rank in US Top 1000

# 994 in the US

Rudolph Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 2379 on Nameberry

Rudolph Popularity

• 1609 Nameberry 2023

20 Names Similar to Rudolph

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Rudolph.

• Randolph
• Adolph
• Romany
• Rudolf
• Dolf
• Rondie
• Brencis
• Cary
• Lorence
• Roís
• Robt
• Ronit
• Barnabe
• Diederick
• Eolande
• Rolph
• Armida
• Brazier
• Berthold
• Karol

Famous People Named Rudolph

• Rudolph King of France
• Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani American lawyer and politician; 107th mayor of New York City
• Rudolph Valentino (born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella) Italian,born American silent film actor
• Rudolph II Count of Habsburg
• Rudolph Cartier Austrian director
• Rudolph Maté (born Rudolf Mayer) Polish,Hungarian,American cinematographer
• Rudolph Schildkraut Austrian actor
• Rudolph Malcolm Walker Trinidadian,British actor
• Rudolph Arthur Marcus Canadian chemist; winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• (Charles) Rudolph Boysen American creator of the boysenberry
• Rudolph Ganz Swiss,American conductor
• Rudolph Bernard Isley American singer of The Isley Brothers
• Rudolph Lewis English operatic bass,baritone
• Rudolph Cornelius Wiedoeft American saxophonist
• (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer German,American organ maker
• Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher American physician and novelist
• (Karl) Rudolph Koenig German physicist
• Rudolph "Rudie" Gustav Hass American creator of the Hass avocado
• Rudolph Ackermann German publisher and bookseller

Rudolph in Pop Culture

• "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," one of Santa's reindeer, Christmas song, and TV special
• Rudolph 'Rudy' Stieblitz aka Regular Sized Rudy, from "Bob's Burgers"
• Rudolph Fentz main character in short story "I'm Scared" by Jack Finney and subject of a time,traveling urban legend
• Rudolph Spielman character in "Harry Potter" universe