Eldredge
A surname that most likely developed as a variant of Eldridge, meaning “son of Alderich” or related to the old personal name Alderic.
The #7,517 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,757 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Eldredge is best understood as a spelling variant of Eldridge. The older surname goes back to the medieval personal name Alderich or Alderic, a Germanic name built from elements meaning “old” or “noble” plus “rule” or “power.” In that sense, the name is patronymic: it originally meant “descendant of Alderich” or “son of Alderich.”
History
19th-century surname writers treated Eldredge as a form of Eldridge, and the spelling with -ge is especially common in English and American records. The name appears in early modern English documentation and later became established in the United States, where it is still found today.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century commentator also noted a very different, informal sense of “eldritch” as “hideous,” but that is a word meaning, not the surname’s true origin.
From the historical record
“York, 7. Mdridge, Eldredge.— Bapt ' the son of Alderich ' ; v. Aid- rich. 1597-8. Otwell Eldridge and Anne Itree : MaJnage Lie (London), i. 34c.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)