Norwood

Etymology

Norwood is an English place-based surname. It is usually explained as coming from Old English norð, meaning “north,” plus wudu, meaning “wood,” so the original sense is “north wood.” In some cases it may also refer directly to one of several places called Norwood in England rather than to a descriptive landscape feature.

History

19th-century surname dictionaries treat Norwood as a local or habitational name, especially from places in Middlesex and Surrey. The name is found in English records and later became established in the United States as well. Because several places could give rise to the same surname, different Norwood families may not share a single origin.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Some early surname references grouped Norwood with other English place-names built from simple landscape terms, because the meaning is almost exactly what it sounds like: “north wood.”