Mattox
A surname most likely from the Welsh personal name Madoc, later reshaped into forms like Maddox and Mattox.
The #3,535 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,572 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mattox is generally treated as a spelling variant of Maddox, ultimately from the Welsh personal name Madoc. In older records, the name was often sharpened or altered in pronunciation and spelling, producing forms such as Maddox, Maddick, and Mattox. The core sense is therefore patronymic: “son or descendant of Madoc.”
History
The name appears in English records in several closely related spellings, especially in areas where Welsh names were being adapted into English spelling. Bardsley grouped Mattox with sharpened forms of Madoc-based surnames, which supports its relationship to Maddox rather than to the unrelated English surname Mattock. In modern usage, Mattox survives as a relatively uncommon but established surname in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers sometimes listed Mattox right beside Mattocks and Maddox because they saw them as closely related sound-shifted forms.
From the historical record
“Mattook, MattookB, UaU tick, Mattox.— Bapt. < [he son of Madoc ' ; v. Haddock, Haddox, and Maddick, of which these sharpened forms.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances