Oda Family History

Japanese: common place name and surname throughout Japan, meaning ‘small rice paddy’. A less common but more famous Oda name, written with characters meaning ‘woven rice paddy’ (i.e. fields laid out evenly as woven cloth), was borne by the family of the famous conqueror Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582). Their name is taken from two Shinto shrines in Fukui prefecture; so an added meaning would be ‘august rice paddy’, denoting respect shown to a shrine’s property.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press