Cloud Family History

English: topographic name for someone who lived near an outcrop or hill from Old English clūd ‘rock’ (only later used to denote vapor formations in the sky) or a habitational name from any of numerous places so named such as Temple Cloud (Somerset), Cloud Bridge (Warwickshire), and Clouds Wood (Hertfordshire).

Native American: translation into English (and shortening) of a personal name based on a word such as Lakota and Dakota Sioux mahpiya meaning ‘cloud’. Among the Sioux, several of their traditional personal names with this element were adopted as surnames (translated into English) e.g. Iron Cloud (see Ironcloud) and Red Cloud (see Redcloud).

French: from the ancient Germanic personal name Hlodald composed of the elements hlōd ‘famous, clear’ + wald ‘rule’ which was borne by a Christian saint and bishop of the 6th century.