The English surname Rhoads, found chiefly in Yorkshire, is a topographic name for someone who lived in a clearing in woodland. The name may also be a locative name from any of the places named with this word. These include: Rhodes near Middleton in Lancashire; Rhodes (Hill), north of Ashton-under-Lyne; Rhodes (Bank) near Oldham; and Rhodes (Green), north of Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The first written reference to the name is in 1219 when Hugh de Rodes is registered  in the "Assize Court Rolls" of Yorkshire.