The origin of the Wood surname is mostly geographic. It's a British name (26th most popular in England and Wales, 53rd most popular in Scotland) found as early as the 1200s, common throughout the English-speaking world (78th most prevalent in the United States) and is most often used to describe someone who lived or worked in some form of wood or forest. More rarely, the surname Wood can be an anglicisation of the German Wald, or derive from the nickname for someone 'wild', from the Old English 'wod'.
Wood, Woode, Woods, Wode, Woud
Start your family tree
Trace your family back in time. Make new discoveries and see what other Findmypast family historians in our genealogy community have discovered about the Woods.
Sign up to get startedMen and women often performed different types of jobs, so these are displayed by gender to maintain their historical accuracy.
Common female occupations for Woods in 1921
Dressmaker
3,964
Domestic Servant
2,312
Cotton Weaver
2,277
Laundress
2,075
General Servant Domestic
1,853
Common male occupations for Woods in 1921
Coal Miner
4,067
Agricultural Labourer
3,210
General Labourer
3,184
Farmer
2,817
Carpenter
2,077
Find out more about your family in our records