The surname Sherwood is of English origin and is derived from the Old English words scir, meaning bright or clear, and wudu, meaning wood. It is therefore a locational surname that indicates that the original bearers of the name hailed from a place called Sherwood, a settlement or woodland that was described as bright or clear.
Recorded in a number of spellings such as Sherwood, Sherewood and Shirwood, the name has medieval roots. The earliest known spelling is that of Ralph de Scirwode, dated 1273 in the Pipe Rolls of Lincoln. This document was produced during the reign of King Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307. Later records include the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379, where a Margareta de Shyrwode is listed, and early modern parish registers documenting unions such as William Sherwood and Dionise Butler in London in 1577, and John Sherwood and Judith Cooke at St. Thomas, the Apostle, in London in 1661.
The name is most famously associated with the forest in Nottinghamshire known as Sherwood Forest, the legendary home of Robin Hood. However, the place name itself originates from the pre‑7th‑century Old English phrase scir-wōd, which translates as cultivated woodland or bright wood, rather than the popularised image of a wild enchanted forest.
As a locational surname, Sherwood was used as a form of identification for individuals who had left the original locality and settled elsewhere. The designation denoted a person coming from Sherwood, providing a concise reference to a geographical origin in an era when surnames were still evolving. This practice was common in medieval England and helped to distinguish families within growing urban and rural communities.
In subsequent centuries the surname remained well documented, particularly in the city of York during the twentieth century. Its continued presence in contemporary records attests to the lasting nature of locational surnames derived from places of significant historical and cultural resonance across Britain.