Dryden Family History
Dryden Name Meaning
English (Northumberland and Durham) and Scottish: habitational name from either from Dryden in Roxburghshire or Dryden near Roslin in Midlothian perhaps named from Old English dr̄ge ‘dry’ + denu ‘valley’. The poet John Dryden (1631–1700) was born in Northamptonshire after his ancestors had migrated there from Cumbria in the 16th century.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022