 |
| Todd Family Crest - Opertet Vivere |
The History of the Surname Todd
Tod is the Scots word for fox. In Scotland and the north of England a todhunter is a fox hunter. The name Todd is an altered form of the Scotch word tod. The shorter form of the name is therefore the original and correct one. The doubling of the final letter is a corruption. But at the present time everywhere unless in Scotland and perhaps even there too, the corrupt form is the more common one.
The first to assume the word as a surname was perhaps a keen sportsman. He followed the hounds, or may have been a fox hunter. Tod is a name occurring in the writings of Wycliffe, also Todman. We have other forms of the name, Todt or Todte and Todde, also the compounds Todcastle, Todenham and Todlebru.
All the Todds have originally come from Scotland; but they have come by different roads, and some of them have been a long time on the way. For centuries, driven by persecution or lured by the hope of advantage, they have been with their fellow-countrymen, descending into England, or crossing the straits into the North of Ireland.
Todd Coat of Arms / Todd Family Crest
The surname of TODD was an occupational name 'the fox-hunter' the name is familiar to the North of England. Occupational surnames originally denoted the actual occupation followed by the individual. At what period they became hereditary is a difficult problem. Many of the occupation names were descriptive and could be varied. In the Middle Ages, at least among the Christian population, people did not usually pursue specialized occupations exclusively to the extent that we do today, and they would, in fact, turn their hand to any form of work that needed to be done, particularly in a large house or mansion, or on farms and smallholdings.
In early documents, surnames often refer to the actual holder of an office, whether the church or state. The small villages of Europe or royal and noble households, even religious dwellings and monasteries, gave rise to many family names which reflected the occupation or profession of the original bearer of the name. Early records of the name mention John le Tod, 1300 County Lancashire. William Todd of County Somerset, was documented during the reign of Edward III (1327-1377). Adam le Tod of Yorkshire, was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. Abraham Todd of Newcastle, registered at Oxford University in the year 1575. Robert Baker married Jane Todd at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1597.
Most of the European surnames in countries such as England, Scotland and France were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name. A notable member of the name was Alexander Todd, the Scottish chemist born in Glasgow in 1907. He became professor at Manchester in 1938, and fellow and master of Christ College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1957, and was made a life Peer in 1962. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884.
