This interesting surname may be a metonymic occupational name for a maker of purses and bags, deriving from the Old English pre 7th Century "cod(e)" meaning "bag". It may also be a metonymic occupational nickname for a fishmonger, deriving from the Middle English "codde" meaning "fish". Finally, it may be a variant of Cody which is an Anglicized form of the Gaelic O Cuidighthigh meaning "descendant of Cuidightheach", a byname for a helpful person. The surname dates back to the mid 12th Century, (see below). Further recordings include John Lecod (1219), witness, "The Assize Rolls of Yorkshire", and Henry Cod (1273) "The Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Cod, Code, Coad, Coade, etc.. One Katheryn Cod married Bartylmewe West on April 29th 1546, at St. Margaret, Westminster. Margaret, daughter of George Codde, was christened on December 26th 1577, at Christchurch, Greyfriars, London, and Susan Codd married Christopher Park in London in July 1620. Thomas and John Codd, famine emigrants, sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Henry-Clay" bound for New York on April 26th 1847. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Osbert Cod, which was dated 1148, in Winton, Hampshire, during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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