Rodwell, a name of Old English origin, is a locational surname deriving from any one of various places in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Kent, England.In English, the meaning of the name Rodwell is "lives by the spring near the road". There are places in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire called Radwell, and both are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Radeuuelle"; the name means "the red spring or stream", derived from the Olde English pre-7th-century "read", red, with "well(a)", spring or stream. Rodwell, a parish in the diocese of Rochester, Kent, derives its name from the Olde English personal name "Hroda", a short form of various compound names with the first element "hrod", renown, with "well(a)", as before. The modern surname from this source can be found as Rodwell, Radwell, and Rudwell. The christening of Hugh, son of John Rodwell, was recorded at St. Michael Bassishaw, London on July 27, 1572, and the marriage of Thomas Rodwell and Hanna Francknet was recorded in Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire, on October 27, 1624. The first recorded spelling of the family name is that of Robert de Radewell, dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Bedfordshire". Surname Rodwell is mostly used as a surname. Notable people with such include: Benjamin Rodwell, British lawyer and Conservative politician Brett Rodwell, Australian rugby league footballer Cecil Hunter-Rodwell, British colonial administrator and Governor Charles Rodwell (born 1996), British-born French politician Craig Rodwell, American gay rights activist and founder of the first gay bookstore Emerson Rodwell, Australian soldier, cricket player, umpire, commentator and administrator Eric Rodwell, American bridge player George Herbert Buonaparte Rodwell, English composer, musical director, and author. Jack Rodwell, English footballer James Rodwell, English rugby union sevens player Jim Rodwell, English footballer and former chairman of Boston United John Medows Rodwell, English translator of the Koran John S. Rodwell, British ecologist based at the University of Lancaster Lindy Rodwell, South African zoologist and conservationist Matt Rodwell, Australian rugby league footballer Roger de Rodwell, English medieval university chancellor Sally Rodwell (1950 – 2006), New Zealand multi-disciplinary artist Tony Rodwell, English soccer footballer Warren Rodwell, former soldier, university teacher, hostage survivor and songwriter Warwick Rodwell, English author, archaeologist, architectural historian and academic In fiction Rodwell has been used a character name in literature and television. For example: Andrew Rodwell, a fictional character from the Australia soap opera Neighbours Michael Marlon Rodwell, a former convict in Coronation Street played by Les