Eldred
An old English name that began as a personal name, ultimately meaning something like 'old counsel' or 'wise elder.'
The #7,275 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 67,412 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Eldred is best understood as a surname that came from an early English personal name rather than from a place or trade. The old given name is usually linked to Old English elements meaning 'old' and 'counsel' or 'advice,' so the underlying sense is 'old adviser' or 'elder counselor.' Historical surname writers also treated it as a Saxon personal name in use long before surnames became hereditary.
History
The name appears in medieval records as a personal name and later as a hereditary surname. Lower noted a Suffolk baronet family of Eldred that claimed Saxon descent, which fits the name's old English character. It has also generated related surname forms such as Eldridge and Eldret, though some of those later developed separate histories.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same medieval name-family also sits behind the surname Eldridge, though some bearers of that spelling later developed a different surname history.
From the historical record
“relatives Young and Younger. ELDRED. The extinct baronet family of Saxham, co. Sufiblk, claimed a Saxon origin. The name is an A-Sax, personal appellation. ELDRIDGE. Perhaps local. Eldndge, clriche, or elrltch, is, however, a medieval Avord signifying "wild, hideous, ghastly, lonesome, uninhabited except by…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom