Studd Family History

From Middle English stud(e), a W Midlands and SW form of Middle English sted(e), meaning ‘place; site of a building or farmstead’ (Old English stede styde).

Compare Stead. The etymology and meaning of the term are uncertain, which may lie behind some early examples of the name without a preposition, especially in SE and E England, where the etymology in (i) would be dialectally improbable.

Reaney, following Tengvik on page 367, suggests that the 1086 example is a nickname derived from Old English stūt meaning ‘gnat’. However, this word is unlikely to have produced Middle English Stud(d) and there is no evidence to support this connection.

For the usual Middle English development of stūt, see Stout.