From Greek 'rhodon' meaning rose.
Rhoda is a name of ancient Greek origin, derived from "rhodon," meaning rose — the same root that gives us the island of Rhodes, whose very name evokes the flower that once grew abundantly on its shores. The name carries with it the full symbolic freight of the rose in classical culture: beauty, ephemerality, love, and a certain thorned resilience. It appears in the New Testament in a delightfully human moment — in the Acts of the Apostles, Rhoda is the servant girl who answers the door when the apostle Peter, miraculously freed from prison, knocks in the night.
She is so astonished and overjoyed that she runs to tell the others without actually letting him in, a small comedic grace note in the middle of a miracle. The name enjoyed steady use through the medieval period in Europe, carried forward by its biblical pedigree and the enduring romance of the rose as symbol. By the Victorian era, Rhoda had become a respectable, if somewhat staid, English given name.
It appears in Thomas Hardy's "The Withered Arm" (1888) as Rhoda Brook, a complex and sympathetic figure whose story of jealousy and supernatural encounter gives the name a more brooding literary dimension. In the twentieth century the name softened in perception, becoming associated with warmth and approachability rather than tragedy. Rhoda experienced a significant cultural moment in the 1970s with the American sitcom "Rhoda" (1974–1978), a spin-off of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in which Valerie Harper played Rhoda Morgenstern — funny, self-deprecating, and deeply lovable.
The show cemented Rhoda as a name with personality. Today it is rare enough to feel vintage and distinctive, appealing to parents who love antique names without wanting the current ubiquity of Rose or Ruby.