ELLWOOD
Ellwood is a surname of English origin, traditionally associated with the English-speaking world and particularly with Britain.
The name can be derived in two principal ways. One derivation is patronymic, based on the Old English personal name Ælfweald, meaning elf ruler. Over time, this personal name evolved into the surname Ellwood and was used to identify the descendants of an individual bearing that name.
The other derivation is locational. The place name Ellwood, found in Gloucestershire, is formed from the Old English words ellern (elder tree) and wudu (wood), and thus means elder wood. Families who moved from this area or who were associated with the manor adopted the locational surname. Variant forms of the name that also appear in the historical record include Elwood and Allwood.
Historical evidence for the surname dates back to the fifteenth century. The earliest recorded spelling, Elwald, appears in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in 1469, during the reign of King Edward I V. Earlier references, such as Robert de Ellwode, have been found in the Close Rolls of Norfolk in 1274. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the name is documented in both London and the surrounding counties, including Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Shropshire.
Ellwood was one of the surnames taken by early emigrants to the New World. Ralph Ellwood is recorded as having left London on the ship Truelove bound for New England in September 1635, and he appears in the colonist registers of the early New England colonies. In more recent centuries the surname was carried to the United States by migrants to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa, where the variant Ellot or Ellott became common.
According to census data, the surname is most common in the United Kingdom. In the 2001 UK census, it ranked as the 2 857th most common name in England and Wales, and was more frequent in Scotland at 909th. Outside the UK the surname appears at a comparatively low frequency: in the 2019 United States census it was the 30 047th most used surname, in Germany the 19 945th, and in Sweden the 36 563rd.
Notable individuals bearing the Ellwood surname include the British actor Eric Ellwood, born in London in 1924 and remembered for his roles in films such as The Three Musketeers and The Dam Busters, and the Australian singer‑guitarist Duncan Ellwood, who attained success in the 1980s with his band Custard. These figures illustrate the continued presence of the name in contemporary culture.
Typical given names associated with the Ellwood surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- Graham
- James
- John
- Mark
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Stephen
- Thomas
Female
- Catherine
- Christine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Jean
- Lesley
- Margaret
- Mary
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Ellwood in...
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There are approximately 3,353 people named Ellwood in the UK. That makes it roughly the 2,715th most common surname in Britain. Around 51 in a million people in Britain are named Ellwood.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Ellwood
- Tobias Ellwood - Conservative Party politician and author
- Eddy Ellwood - Strength athlete
- Aubrey Ellwood - Royal Air Force air marshals (1897 to 1992)
- Richard Ellwood - Cricketer
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.