Woody
A surname that likely began as a descriptive or locational name for someone living near a woody place or woodland.
The #1,960 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,749 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Woody is most plausibly an English surname built on the word 'wood' with the adjectival ending '-y,' giving the sense of 'wooded' or 'full of trees.' In surname use, it likely referred either to someone living by a woodland or to a place described as woody or forested. Historical dictionaries also connect similar names to old regional words for a woody tract, valley, or waste ground, but the surname itself is best understood as a topographic name.
History
This surname is comparatively uncommon in historical surname dictionaries, and the excerpts provided do not give a direct headword entry for Woody itself. The strongest evidence points to the broader English naming habit of turning landscape features into surnames, especially for people identified by residence near woods or wooded land. In modern use, Woody is found as a surname in the United States and elsewhere in English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Related historical surname forms such as Wold, Weld, and Arden were also used for people associated with wooded or wild land, showing how often landscape became a family name.
From the historical record
“ger, M.li.Ger. biirgcere, O.H.Ger, jMr^an] BUSSY (Fr.) Thicket, Woody Place [O.Fr. bus (mod. bois)i O.H.Ger. busc, a Dush,, thicket, wood : -y repr. the Lat. ' planta-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)