Garwood
Likely an English surname meaning either “spear-wood” or “garth wood,” with both place-name and descriptive explanations in the record.
The #9,017 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,148 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname has two main explanations in the older surname literature. One derives it from Old English gar wudu, literally “spear-wood,” a poetic phrase used for a spear or for wood associated with spear-making. Another treats it as a locative name, especially from a place-name such as Garswood, or from “garth wood,” meaning an enclosed wood or wood near a yard or enclosure.
History
19th- and early-20th-century writers were not fully agreed on Garwood’s origin. Some linked it to an English place-name, while others connected it with the older Anglo-Saxon compound garwudu. Weekley also noted regional clustering in Norfolk, Suffolk, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire, and suggested that some eastern examples may reflect a related old personal name rather than a place-name. The form appears alongside variants such as Gurwood, Jerwood, and Yarwood in older discussions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old philological explanation takes Garwood to mean “spear-wood,” a poetic compound built from words for “spear” and “wood.”
From the historical record
“Hals, in D. Gilbert's Cornw. ii. 94. GARWOOD. A parish in Salop. CARY. See Carey. " The ancient fa- mily of Gary derives its surname from the manor of Cary or Kari, as it is called in Doomsday Book, lying in the parish of St. Giles-on-tlie Heath, near Launceston." B.L.G. See Carew. CARYLL. CARELL. Carle was an…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom