Dodge
A surname with two old explanations: in English records it may come from the nickname Dod or Dodd, though one older source also linked it to the verb “to dodge.”
The #1,635 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,012 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation treats Dodge as a development of Dodds, the genitive or possessive form of the nickname Dod or Dodd, itself used as a short form of names like Roger. In this view, Dodge began as a family name meaning essentially “descendant of Dod.” A different 19th-century source suggested a connection with the verb dodge, meaning to evade or shift suddenly, but that looks more like a folk etymology than the main surname origin.
History
Bardsley notes Dodge among surnames derived from pet forms of Roger, alongside Hodge and Hodgson, and Lower explicitly records Dodge as a corruption of Dodds in Devon. The surname is established in English use and later spread to North America, where it remains most common. Related forms such as Dodson and Dodgson show the same older nickname base.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical writer treated Dodge as if it were related to the common verb dodge, but another source in the same century placed it firmly with the old nickname Dod/Dodd family instead.
From the historical record
“Devon. DODGE. A corruption of Dodds, the genitive of Doda. See Dodd. DODGSON. The same as Dodson. DODMAN. A class of men called Do- domanni appear in the Exou Domesday, and afterwards as Dodemanand Deudeman. The word awaits explanation. See Dud- man. Several De Dodnianstones occur iu H.R.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom