Priddy
A locational surname from Priddy in Somerset, England.
The #6,133 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,271 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Priddy is generally explained as a surname taken from the parish of Priddy in Somerset. The place-name itself is obscure, and 19th-century writers offered only tentative ideas rather than a firm derivation. One suggestion links it to a Welsh root pridd meaning “clay,” but that remains uncertain.
History
Older surname dictionaries treat Priddy, Priddey, and similar spellings as local surnames meaning “of Priddy.” The name is described as familiar in the Somerset district, which fits a surname that likely began as a place-based identifier. Later spelling variants such as Priddey and Pridie appear in the record, while the form is sometimes noted alongside, but not to be confused with, Prideaux.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century writer even suggested a fanciful French-looking explanation for the place-name, but rejected it as unlikely.
From the historical record
“PRIDDEY [Early forms lacking, nothing de- PRIDDY finite can be said of the origin of PRIDEE I the name : it may poss. be f. Wei. pridd, clay, esp. as there seems to have been a hamlet called Prid in Devonshire in mediaeval times ; and Pridd- occurs in Welsh place-names]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)