Giddings
An English surname most likely meaning “from Gidding,” a place-name in Huntingdonshire or Suffolk.
The #6,447 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,619 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Giddings is generally taken as a locational surname, from one of the English places called Gidding or Gedding, especially Great Gidding and Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, or a related Suffolk place-name. The place-name itself is old and likely began as an early English personal-name formation, though the exact first element is not fully certain in these older sources. The final -s is part of the surname form and may reflect older spelling and pronunciation habits rather than a separate meaning.
History
Nineteenth-century surname dictionaries consistently group Giddings with other names derived from the Gidding place-names in eastern England. The spelling has also been influenced by variants such as Gidding, Giddens, Gittens, and Gittings. As with many English locational surnames, it would originally have identified someone who had moved away from the place.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Great Gidding and Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire are the best-known places behind this surname, and Little Gidding later became famous through literary and religious history.
From the historical record
“Stilton, CO. Hunts ; (3) ■ parish near Stowmarket, co. Suffolk. The final s in Giddeos and Giddings probably represents the gt and gg* (pronounced like /li^gr) found in the entries below : Nkliolaa dr Geddlag, oo. Eikx, Hen.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances