This interesting surname is English. It is probably an occupational name for a maker of purses and bags, deriving from the Old English pre 7th century word "code" meaning a bag. It may also be a metonymic nickname for a fishmonger, deriving from the word "codde" meaning a fish. Finally, it may be a variant of Cody which is a developed form of the Gaelic O' Cuidighthigh meaning "a male descendant of Cuidightheach", a byname for a helpful person. The surname dates back in England to the mid 12th Century, (see below). Further recordings include John Lecod in the Assize Rolls of Yorkshire in the year 1219, and Henry Cod in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273. Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Cod, Code, Coad, Coade, Cood, Coode and others. Examples from the surviving early church registers include Katheryn Cood who married Bartelymewe West on April 29th 1546, at St. Margaret's Westminster, whilst Margaret Codde, was christened on December 26th 1577, at Christchurch, Greyfriars, London, and Susan Code married Christopher Park in London in July 1620. Thomas and John Codd, famine emigrants, sailed from Liverpool aboard the ship "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. This 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 sometimes 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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