Rudolph (name)

Rudolph or Rudolf (French: Rodolphe, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish: Rodolfo) or Rodolphe is a male first name, and, less commonly, a surname. It is a Germanic name deriving from two stems: Rod or Hrōð, meaning "fame", and olf meaning "wolf" (see also Hroðulf; cf. Adolf).

In other languages

• Albanian: Rudolf
• Armenian: Ռուդոլֆ (Rudolf)
• Catalan: Rodolf
• Croatian: Rudolf
• Czech: Rudolf
• Danish: Rudolf
• Dutch: Roelof, Rudolf, Ruud
• English: Rudolf, Rudolph
• French: Rodolphe, Raoul
• Georgian: რუდოლფ (Rudolp)
• German: Rudolf, diminutive: Rudi
• Greek: Ροδόλφος (Rhodólphos), Ράλλης (Rhálles)
• Hebrew רודולף (Rudolf)
• Hungarian: Rudolf
• Italian: Rodolfo
• Latin: Rudolphus
• Latvian: Rūdolfs
• Norwegian: Rudolf
• Polish: Rudolf
• Portuguese: Rodolfo
• Russian: Рудольф (Rudolf)
• Serbian: Rudolf (Рудолф)
• Slovak: Rudolf
• Slovene: Rudolf
• Spanish: Rodolfo
• Swedish: Rudolf

Surname

Athletes

• Ernie Rudolph (1909–2003), Major League Baseball pitcher
• Gergely Rudolf (born 1985), Hungarian soccer player
• Jacques Rudolph (born 1981), South African cricketer who plays for Surrey CCC
• Kyle Rudolph (born 1989), National Football League player
• Nils Rudolph (born 1965), German freestyle swimmer
• Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994), American Olympic athlete

In film and television

• Alan Rudolph (born 1943), film director and screenwriter
• Maya Rudolph (born 1972), actress and comedian
• William Rudolph (died 1975), American film technician

In science and technology

• Arthur Rudolph (1906–1996), rocket scientist who helped develop the V-2 and the Saturn V, Operation Paperclip

In music

• Jean-Joseph Rodolphe (1730–1812), composer
• Max Rudolf (conductor) (1902–1995), German conductor who spent most of his career in the United States
• Kevin Rudolf (born 1983), American musician, singer-songwriter and music producer.

Other

• Albert Rudolph, birth name of Swami Rudrananda, American entrepreneur and spiritual teacher
• Eric Rudolph (born 1966), serial murderer and terrorist
• Julia Ann Rudolph (c. 1820–c. 1890), American photographer
• Paul Rudolph (architect) (1918–1997), American architect
• Vernon Rudolph (1915–1973), founder of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc

Given name

Royalty

• Rudolph of France (r. 923–936)
• Rudolf I of Germany (1218–1291)
• Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552–1612)
• Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (1858–1889), son and heir of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Empress Elisabeth of Austria (died at Mayerling)
• Rudolph I of Bohemia (1281–1307)
• Rudolf II, Duke of Austria (1270–1290)
• Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (1339–1365)

Religious figures

• Rudolf of Fulda, 9th century monk, writer and theologian
• Rudolf von Habsburg-Lothringen (1788–1831), Archbishop of Olomouc and member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Dancers

• Rudolf Laban (1879–1958)
• Rudolf Nureyev (1938–1993)

In film and television

• Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), legendary silent film actor
• Rudolph Walker (born 1939), British actor
• Rudy Wurlitzer (born 1937), American novelist and screenwriter.
• Rudolf Bernhard (1901–1962), Swiss actor and theater director
• Rudolf Hrušínský (born 1920), Czech actor
• Ruedi Walter, (1916–1990) Swiss comedian and actor

In science and technology

• Ralph H. Baer (Rudolf Heinrich Baer) (1922–2014), German-American video game pioneer, inventor, engineer.
• Rudolf Diesel (1858–1913), inventor of the diesel engine
• Rudolph A. Marcus (born 1923), Canadian Nobel Prize-winning chemist
• Rudolf Wolf (1816–1893), Swiss astronomer and mathematician
• Rudolph Wurlitzer (1831–1914) German American immigrant, who was founder of The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company
• Rudolph Boysen (1895–1950), creator of the boysenberry
• Rudolf Simek (born 1954), Germanist and Philologian

In music

• Sir Rudolf Bing (1902–1997), opera impresario
• Rudolf Friml (1879–1972), composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, and a pianist
• Rodolfo "Fito" Páez (born 1963), Argentine singer-songwriter
• Rudolph Isley (born 1939), American singer-songwriter and is one of the founding members of The Isley Brothers.
• Rudolf Schenker (born 1948), German guitarist and founding member of heavy metal band Scorpions.

Political figures

• Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (born 1944), American lawyer, businessman, former politician, and public speaker. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.
• Rudolph (Rudy) Perpich, former governor of Minnesota.
• Rudolf Maister (1874-1934) Slovene military officer, poet and political activist.

Other

• Rudolf Anderson (1927–1962), U.S. Air Force pilot and first recipient of the Air Force Cross
• Rudolf Dassler (1898–1974), German businessman
• Rudolf Hess (1894–1987), Deputy Führer in Nazi Germany
• Rudolf Höss (1900–1947), first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp
• Rudolf Spielmann (1883–1942), Austrian-Jewish chess player
• Rudolf Vrba (1924–2006), Slovak-Canadian professor of pharmacology and Jewish escapee of the Auschwitz concentration camp
• Rudolf Völler (born 1960), German football player
• Rudolph Berthold (1891–1920), German World War I air ace
• Rudolf Straeuli (born 1963), South African rugby player and coach
• Charles Rudolph Walgreen (1873–1939), American businessman who founded Walgreens.
• Rudolf Abel, the alias of Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher (1903–1971), a Russian spy
• Rudolph Arvid Peterson (1904–2003), former president and CEO of Bank of America.
• Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1939), fictional character

References

• http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/voornamen/VNB/index.php?act=zoeken&id=16253