Stroud
A locational surname from places called Stroud or Strood, ultimately tied to brushwood, thickets, or marshy ground.
The #1,477 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,752 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stroud is generally a habitational surname, taken from places named Stroud or Strood. The name is usually connected with Old English and related Germanic forms meaning a brushwood, thicket, or rough wooded place. In some cases it may also reflect the old word for marshy or wet ground near a stream, since early place-names with this element were not always consistent in meaning.
History
Medieval records show early spellings such as Strode, and later writers treated Stroud and Strood as closely related local surnames. Bardsley and Harrison both note connections with Gloucestershire and Kent, while Harrison also points out a possible link to older place-name forms in Devon. The surname spread in England as families moved away from these localities, and modern bearers are especially numerous in the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Harrison notes that Strood, Kent, is recorded in a charter as early as 889, showing how old the place-name tradition behind the surname is.
From the historical record
“Tindale (Tynedale) in 1358. Cp. Struther. STROUD (Eng.) Bel. to Stroud or Strood ; or Dweller at the Brushwood or Thicket [O.E. strod = M.H.Ger. O.H.Ger. struot, bushes, underwood, thicket] Strood, Kent, was Strdd (genit. Strddes) in a charter dated a.d. 889. In the Charter-Rolls, a.d. i 199-1200, a Westgrove and a…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)