A German and English surname, Rhodes generally meant the clearing of woodlands. There is a village in Germany with the name Rohde.

Spelling variations for Rhodes include Roades, Rhoads, Roads, Rhode and Rhoades.

In Scotland many Rhodes families live in the central portion of the county, especially in Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire counties.
Rhodes families started in Lincolnshire region of England. They then moved north and have the greater populations in Yorkshire, and Lancashire counties.

The states of Texas, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and California have the grater percentage of Rhodes families in the United States.

Famous: Arthur Rhodes (professional baseball player), Cynthia Rhodes (singer, dancer and actress), Jonty Rhodes (cricket player from South Africa), Jay B. Rhodes (inventor with 200 patents), Mark Rhodes (English singer and TV entertainer), Harold Rhodes (inventor of the Army Air Corps piano), William Barnes Rhodes (19th century English dramatist), Cecil Rhodes (creator of the Rhodes Scholarship and for whom the country of Rhodesia in Africa was named for) and William Rhodes (sculptor).