Humanities › History & Culture WOOD - Name Meaning & Origin Print History & Culture Genealogy Surnames Basics Genealogy Fun Vital Records Around the World American History African American History African History Ancient History and Culture Asian History European History Inventions Latin American History Medieval & Renaissance History Military History The 20th Century Women's History View More By Kimberly Powell Kimberly Powell Genealogy Expert Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University B.A., Carnegie Mellon University Kimberly Powell is a professional genealogist and the author of The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy. She teaches at the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on June 04, 2017 WOOD Surname Meaning & Origin: 1) Originally used to describe a person who lived in or worked in a wood or forest. Derived from Middle English wode, meaning "wood." 2) Possibly derived from the Old English wad, meaning crazed or crazy, the name was sometimes used to describe someone considered mad or violent. 3) An ancient Scottish surname, first called De Bosco, because the family bore trees in their coat of arms. Wood is the 75th most popular surname in the United States. Ward is also popular in England, coming in as the 26th most common surname. Surname Origin: English, Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings: WOODE, WOODS Read More WARD Name Meaning and Origin By Kimberly Powell Genealogy Resources for the Surname WOOD: 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames & Their MeaningsSmith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census? WOOD Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the Wood surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Wood query. FamilySearch - WOOD GenealogyFind records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Wood surname and its variations. WOOD Surname & Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Wood surname. Cousin Connect - WOOD Genealogy QueriesRead or post genealogy queries for the surname Wood, and sign up for free notification when new Wood queries are added. DistantCousin.com - WOOD Genealogy & Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name Wood. -- Looking for the meaning of a given name? Check out First Name Meanings -- Can't find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings & Origins. ----------------------- References: Surname Meanings & Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. >> Back to Glossary of Surname Meanings & Origins Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Powell, Kimberly. "WOOD - Name Meaning & Origin." ThoughtCo, Jan. 29, 2020, thoughtco.com/wood-name-meaning-and-origin-1422647. Powell, Kimberly. (2020, January 29). WOOD - Name Meaning & Origin. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/wood-name-meaning-and-origin-1422647 Powell, Kimberly. "WOOD - Name Meaning & Origin." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/wood-name-meaning-and-origin-1422647 (accessed April 24, 2024). copy citation