Hodson
A surname meaning “son of Hod,” with Hod being a short form of Roger or Hodge.
The #5,522 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,038 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hodson is an English patronymic surname built from Hod, a pet form of Roger or Hodge, plus -son, meaning “son of.” In older surname practice, Hod was used as a familiar shortened name, so Hodson originally identified someone as the son of a man called Hod or Hodge. The spelling also overlaps with Hudson in some historical records, which can make old forms tricky to sort out.
History
Nineteenth-century surname writers note Hodson as a southern English spelling alongside Hodgson, which was especially associated with the North of England. The name appears in English records by the 16th century, showing that it was already established as a hereditary surname by then. Because spelling was fluid in early records, some Hodson and Hudson forms may have been interchanged or confused.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books even remarked that Hodgson could shift in pronunciation and spelling by region, with southern forms often simplified to Hodson.
From the historical record
“HODSON. See Roger. The son of Hodge or Roger. It is curious that Hodge- son becomes in tlie North of England Hodgia — in the South, Hodson. HOE. A-Sax. hoit, a hill — as the Hoe at Pljmaouth. HOPjSE. The same as Husee or Hussey. HOEY. Originally MacHoey, a corrup- tion of MacKay, but retaining a similar”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom