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Descendants of Peter Wood (unknown)
and Janet "Jessie" Cleghorn (19th Apr 1805 - after 1880)

Distribution of the surname Wood in the United Kingdom in 1881 and 1998.

The most common explanation of the origin of the surname Wood is that it was used to describe a person who lived in or worked in a wood or forest. This name derived from Middle English "wode" from the Old English "wudu", both of which mean "wood."

Another possibility is that the name derived from the Old English "wod" or "wad", meaning "crazed" or "crazy," and was used to describe someone considered mad or violent, or a warrior or savage in battle. An example of the use of this term is in the pun in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, "And heere am I, and wod within this wood."

A final possibility is that it derived from an ancient Scottish surname, originally known as 'de Bosco', because the family bore trees in their coat of arms.[4] The ancient motto of this family is "Defend."

Wood can be traced as far back as the 11th century. Walter de la Wode is recorded in Hertfordshire in 1242. John Atewode is in the Rotuli Hundredorum in Essex in 1274, and William Bythewode is listed in the Subsidy Rolls in Sussex in 1296.

Some bearers of the surname Wood may descend from Irish immigrants who moved to England and Wales. Settlers with the surnames Coll, Coill or O'Coill (Ó Coill) or the anglicised form Quill were known to have changed their surnames to the English translation - Wood.

Click on image or here for enlarged view (Source of maps -- The National Trust Names.) http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/

Return to Other Settler Familes List

Wood Family Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, Index