This unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a good example of the toponymic surnames peculiar to the southern and south-eastern counties of England, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Hampshire and Sussex. These are formed by the addition of "-er" to some topographical term, such as Bridger, Brooker, and, as here, Flooder or Fludder, which was a toponymic name given originally to someone who lived by a small stream or an intermittent spring. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century "flod(e)", channel, intermittent spring, a derivative of "flowan", to flow. The surname development includes Thomas Flowder (1565, Sussex), Mary Flodyer (1658, London), and Thomas Fluder (1681, ibid.). Among recordings of the name in Surrey are those of the christening of Richard Fludder in Godalming on January 22nd 1584, and the marriage of Thomas Fludder and Johane Roker, also in Godalming, on June 3rd 1605. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Wigot de la Flode, which was dated 1198, The Berkshire Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Richard 1, "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. 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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