Recorded in the spellings of Dad, Dadd, Dadson, Dodd, Dodde, Dodds, Dodson, Doddson and several other spellings, this is a medieval English surname, and one of the very first recorded surnames anywhere in the world. Deriving from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname "Dodda or Dudda", but ultimately from an Anglo-Saxon word "dudd" meaning rounded, it was originally a term of endearment for a baby boy. Amongst the very earliest of recordings are those of Aelfweard Dudd in the Old English Byname Register for the county of Hampshire in the year1030, and then after the Norman Conquest of 1066, Aelric Dod in the 1086 Domesday Book for Dorsetshire. The patronymic form of Dodson also has the unusual distinction of also being first recorded in Domesday Book, (see below). Further early examples of recordings include: William Dad in the Curia Regis Rolls of Cambridge in 1279, and Margota Dodson, in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire. An early settler in the New World English colonies was Edward Dadson, aged 21 yrs., who sailed from London on the ship "John", bound for St. Christophers in Barbados, on October 15th 1635. The first recorded spelling of the patronymic form of the surname is believed to be that of Aluinus Dodeson. This was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Hertfordshire, during the reign of King William 1st of England and Duke of Normandy. He reigned from 1066 to 1087. Throughout the centuries surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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