Woodhouse
A topographic surname for someone who lived by a house near the woods, with a secondary possibility of connection to the old “wood-man” folk character.
The #8,316 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,477 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Woodhouse is usually explained as a topographic name from Old English elements meaning “wood” and “house”: literally, “the house by the wood” or “dweller at the wood-house.” Medieval spellings such as Wodehuse and Wodehusu support this reading. Some early writers also noted a later association with a festive “wild man of the woods” character called the Woodhouse, but that looks like a secondary cultural association rather than the main surname origin.
History
The surname is recorded early in English sources and is especially associated with northern and midland place-names and local habitations. In some cases it may also have been taken from places called Woodhouse in counties such as Leicestershire and Northumberland. Because English surnames often grew from nearby landmarks, Woodhouse appears in several parallel local families rather than from one single ancestor.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Christmas revels sometimes featured a “Wild Man of the Woods” figure, which one 19th-century writer linked to the name Woodhouse.
From the historical record
“ad q. Damn., a.d. 1307-8. WOODHOUSE (Eng,) Bel. to Woodhouse ; or Dweller at the HOUSE by the Wood [O.E. wudu -f hus\ The Wodehuse and Wodehusu' of the Yorks Domesday-Bk, represent resp. the O.E. dat. sing, (hiise) and dat.pl. (ktisum). Cp. Wodehouse.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)