"Rod" is the name for a good French one (3)
I believe the answer is:
gun
'rod' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the name for a good french one' is the wordplay.
'the name' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation e.g. on forms).
'for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'a good' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'french one' becomes 'u' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'g'+'u'='gu'
'n' put after 'gu' is 'GUN'.
'is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gun that I've seen before include "Artillery piece" , "Throttle" , "Hand weapon" , "Shooter" , "Rev up" .)