Meanings
of the name
The
surname, Attwood is derived from a locative mediaeval bye-name, i.e.
originating from a place name, such as -hill, -ford, -brook -well
and of course -wood. The name would therefore appear to mean,
"dweller at or near a wood". The Oxford Dictionary of
English Surnames (Oxford University Press, 1997) gives the following
definition: "Attwood, Atwood: Attewode 1243...Robert Atwode 1457...'Dweller
by the wood' OE wudu." The name is made up of the most
common preposition at, (Old English ǽt) which coalesced with
the definite article the, to form the obsolete preposition atte,
(Middle English) together with the Old English wudu, wiodu, wudu,
wude, wode, wodd, woode, uud etc. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989
Clarendon Press). Some documented variations in spelling are Attwood, Atte-Wode, Atwood,
Atwode, Attewode Attwode, Attewoode, Atwod, Atwud, Atud ,
Attwool, de Bois, deBoys, (French) and de Bosco
(Latin) and many more!
A
bye-name is a non-hereditary surname given to an individual in order
to describe him in some way. Over the course of the Middle Ages,
depending upon location, individual bye-names gave way to inherited
surnames, so that a man's surname was no longer a literal
description except by coincidence. The Oxford Dictionary of English
Surnames, states that "throughout the Middle Ages surnames were
constantly changing", it also suggests that "only very
occasionally can an early mediaeval surname be proved to be
hereditary". Further confusion may arise as a result of the
medieval practice of using either Latin or Norman French in official
documentation. Thus atte
Wood may be transcribed as de Bois (or de Boys) or de Bosco.
There is therefore scope for further variation resulting from
abbreviation, misspelling or an imprecise understanding of the
language by the scribe, e.g. Joh Boys, 1357 (quoted in
Nash's Worcestershire, 1799) and the Abbot of Evesham Abbey. William
de Boys, 1345-1367.From: 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of
Evesham', A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 2 (1971), pp.
112-27.
Registration
No 4602