Wood Family History

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Wood Name Meaning

mainly a topographic name for someone who lived in or by a wood or a metonymic occupational name for a woodcutter or forester, from Middle English wode ‘wood’ (Old English wudu). nickname for a mad, eccentric, or violent person, from Middle English wod ‘mad’, ‘frenzied’ (Old English wad), as in Adam le Wode, Worcestershire 1221.

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


Similar surnames: Wool, Wold, Good, Hood, Woods, Root, Gold, Hoad, Woody, Look

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Wood Ethnicity Estimate

What are the common regions with the Wood name?

These results combine data from everyone in the AncestryDNA® database with the last name Wood. The Ancestry® ethnicity regions shown are top five most common on average for these people.

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  • England & Wales

    55%

  • Ireland & Scotland

    20%

  • Germanic Europe

    7%

  • Norway

    3%

  • Sweden

    2%

Your own DNA-based ethnicity estimate will differ from what you see here. To get your personalized ethnicity estimate, order an AncestryDNA® kit.order an AncestryDNA® kit.

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Wood Family Origin

Where is the Wood family from?

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You can see how Wood families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Wood family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Wood families were found in the UK in 1891. In 1891 there were 20,568 Wood families living in Yorkshire. This was about 22% of all the recorded Wood's in the UK. Yorkshire had the highest population of Wood families in 1891.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Wood surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.

View Census Data for Wood

Wood Family Occupations

What did your Wood ancestors do for a living?

In 1881, the most common Wood occupation in the UK was Farmer. 4% of Wood's were Farmers. Farmer, Coal Miner and Labourer were the top 3 reported jobs worked by Wood. A less common occupation for the Wood family was Agricultural Labourer .

View Census data for Wood | Data not to scale

  • Farmer

    4%

  • Coal Miner

    3%

  • Labourer

    3%

  • Agricultural Labourer

    3%

Census records can tell you a lot of little known facts about your Wood ancestors, such as occupation. Occupation can tell you about your ancestor's social and economic status.

Wood Historical Records

What Wood family records will you find?

Census Record

There are 3 million census records available for the last name Wood. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Wood census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search 1891 UK census records for Wood

Passenger List

There are 286,000 immigration records available for the last name Wood. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the UK, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Wood immigration records

Draft Card

There are 440,000 military records available for the last name Wood. For the veterans among your Wood ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Wood military records

You've only scratched the surface of Wood family history.

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Wood Life Expectancy

What is the average Wood lifespan?

Between 1940 and 2004, in the United States, Wood life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1944, and highest in 2000. The average life expectancy for Wood in 1940 was 33, and 75 in 2004.

View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for Wood

An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your Wood ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family. The SSDI is a searchable database of more than 70 million names. You can find birthdates, death dates, addresses and more.

Famous Wood Family Ancestors

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