This very unusual name is of early medieval English origin, and represents a rare survival of an occupational surname composed of a given name and the Middle English "man", (man)servant. In this instance, the modern surname Rodgman, also found as Roggeman, derives from the personal name Rodge, an English diminutive form of the given name Roger, with "man", as above. The given name was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 in the form "Rog(i)er", adopted from the Old German "Hrodger, Hrodgar", composed of the elements "hrod", renown, with "geri, gari", spear; the cognate Old Norse name, "Hrothgeirr", was a reinforcing influence in Normandy, Roger became a popular given name in England, generating a variety of diminutive forms such as Rodge, Rudge, Hodge and Dodge, and consequent patronymic surnames ranging from Rogers(on) and Rodgers(on) to Hodgeson and Dod(ge)son. It is first recorded as a surname in 1263, as in Richard Roger, in Archaeological Records of Kent. Similar formations with "man" include: Wiliam Robertman (1332, Cumberland), and William Thomasman (1379, Yorksshire). Recordings of the name from Devonshire Church Registers include the christenings of William Redgeman at Buckland Monachorum, on September 3rd 1681, and the marriage of William Rodgeman and Mary Wood, at Northam, on December 3rd 1798. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Rogerman, which was dated 1332, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Cumberland", during the reign of Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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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