Woodside
A habitational surname for someone who lived beside a wood or wooded area.
The #9,273 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,937 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Woodside comes from Old English elements meaning “wood” (wudu) and “side” (side), so the name literally means “by the side of the wood.” It began as a topographic byname for someone who lived near a woodland edge. In some cases it may also have been adopted from a place-name called Woodside.
History
The name is recorded in English surname references as a straightforward locational/topographic surname. It is also found as a place-name surname in parts of Britain, including townships and localities called Woodside. The surname appears in Scotland and Ireland as well as England, reflecting the spread of place-based surnames across the British Isles.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older writers occasionally treated Woodside as if it might mean “son of the wood,” but the standard explanation is simply “at the side of the wood.”
From the historical record
“WOODS, genit., and pi., of Wood, q.v. WOODSIDE (Eng.) Dweller at the Side of the Wood [O.E. wudu -\- side\ WOODSON, a contr. of Wooderson, q.v. WOODSTOCK (Eng.) Bel. to Woodstock (Oxfd.), 13th cent. Wddestok = the- En- closure of the Wood [O.E. wudu + stoc'\ Henry L had a zoological park here, as related by William…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)