The first Baron was the grandson of Sir John Tremayne Rodd, a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, and a great-grandson of the geographer, historian and a pioneer of oceanography, James Rennell.
Those signing his Certificate of Election and Candidature were: James Edward Smith, Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Edward Whitaker Gray, Maxwell Garthshore, Samuel Solly, James Rennell and William Marsden.
Rennell Island may have been named for the oceanographer James Rennell, FRS (1742–1830).
James Bond | James Joyce | James Brown | James Cook | James Stewart | James II of England | James Garner | James | James Cameron | James Taylor | James Madison | James May | Henry James | James Cagney | James II | James Caan | James Earl Jones | LeBron James | James Monroe | James Franco | James I | William James | James Wyatt | James, son of Zebedee | James Dean | James A. Garfield | Etta James | Jesse James | James Mason | Clive James |
Major General Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell KBE CB JP (25 October 1895 – 15 March 1978) was the second but eldest surviving son of the diplomat James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell.