Todd
An old nickname surname from a word for “fox,” originally suggesting someone sly or foxlike.
The #460 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,303 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Todd comes from an old northern English and Scots word for a fox. The word is related to older Germanic forms meaning a tuft, rag, or bushy tail, which fits the fox’s appearance. As a surname, it was first used as a nickname for someone thought to be foxlike in manner or character.
History
The surname is well attested in medieval England and Scotland, appearing in forms such as John le Tod. Later writers also connected it with nicknames for fox-hunters and related bynames such as Todhunter and Todman, though the core surname itself is best explained as the fox nickname. It remains especially common in Britain and the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older writers even used phrases like “wily tod” for a fox, showing how firmly the word was tied to the animal in everyday speech.
From the historical record
“TOD \ (Teut.) I a nickname from the Fox TODD J [M. and Dial. N.E. and Scot, torf, a fox, a bush (the fox was called a tod from his brush) : cp. O.N. toddi (Dan.-Norw. tot), a tuft = Dut. tod, todde, a rag = Ger. notte, a tuft] John le Tod. — Pari. Writs. This tod, to rest him, he passit to ane”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)