Froud Family History

Either from an unrecorded Middle English word frode ‘wise prudent’ (Old English frōd) or possibly from Middle English froude frode frude ‘frog toad’ (compare Old Scandinavian frauð), though this is a characteristically northern word whereas the modern distribution of the surname is typically south-eastern. Some of the following post-medieval bearers may alternatively belong with (2), especially the Hants example.

Sometimes a reduced form of Middle English froward ‘contrary wilful unruly’. See Frewer. This name may, however, have been confused with (1).

Perhaps occasionally from the Middle English personal name Frode, probably representing a Norman French form of Old Scandinavian Fróði Frothi, although the corresponding Old English Frōda and Continental Germanic Frodo are also formally possible.

All are from a root meaning ‘wise knowledgeable’. The Frodo mentioned in Domesday Book was a brother of the abbot of Bury Saint Edmunds and was genere Gallus (‘of French descent’).