Rudd
Usually a surname from a nickname for a ruddy or red-faced person, though some sources connect it with the name Rodd.
The #2,451 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,957 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rudd is generally taken as a nickname surname from Middle English or Old English words for a reddish color or a ruddy complexion. Early surname writers often linked it with 'ruddy,' making it the kind of name first given to someone with a red face, red hair, or a flushed look. Some older authorities also treated it as a variant of Rodd, so there may be more than one historical line behind the spelling.
History
The name is found in medieval and later English records, especially in areas where short descriptive surnames were common. Later surname dictionaries continued to debate whether some Rudd families belong with Rodd or with the red-color nickname group. It remains established in Britain and, through migration, in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century surname dictionary explicitly glossed Rudd as probably the same as Rodd, showing how often older reference works disagreed on short surnames.
From the historical record
“BY. RUDD. Probably tlie same as Rodd. RUDDER. A corruption of Rutter. RUDDERFORTH. See Rutherfurd. RUDDIFORD. See Rutherfurd. RUDDIMAN. A man of ruddy com- plexion ; analogous to Blackman, White- man, kc.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom