Skidmore
An English surname most likely from a place-name meaning “moor/ heath ridge” or similar, though older writers also proposed a nickname sense.
The #3,310 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 28,479 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation treats Skidmore as a locational surname, probably from an English place-name recorded in medieval forms such as Skydemor. One analysis takes the first element to be the same as in place-names like Skidby, with the second element from Old Norse mǫr, meaning “moor” or “heath.” A much older, less convincing proposal linked it to words meaning “broad shoulders,” but modern surname dictionaries generally prefer the place-name origin.
History
Historical spellings show Skidmore as an early variant of Scudamore, and the two names were sometimes treated as connected or interchangeable in older sources. The name is found in medieval England, with references to bearers such as Walter de Scudamore in the 13th and 14th centuries. It later spread into Britain and then to North America, where Skidmore became the more familiar simplified spelling in some lines.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname writers sometimes grouped Skidmore with Scudamore and even suggested a descriptive meaning, but later treatments tend to see it as a place-based name instead.
From the historical record
“etc.] SKIDMORE (Scand.) Bel. to Skidmoor, a.d 1319 Skydemor [the first element is prob. that seen in Skidby -|- O.N. mdr, a moor, heath] SKIFFINGTON ;= Skefflngton, q.v. We may compare the Leic. skip as a var. oiskep, 'basket', &c. (' Leic. Gloss.'p. 241.)”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)