This unusual name is English and has its origin in the Old English pre 7th Century personal name 'Frod' or 'Froda' itself originally a byname and also found in Normandy. The Domesday Book of 1086 records one 'Frodo' as the brother of the Abbot of Bury. The derivation of the name is from the Old Norse 'frothi', meaning 'wise' or 'prudent'. As a nickname for a prudent person, this is another source for the modern day surname, since it was a common medieval practice to create a surname from a nickname. The development of the surname includes William Froud (1203, Staffordshire) and Robert Frowde (1525, Sussex), while the modern surname can be found as Froud(e), Frwd(e), Frood, Frude, and Frudd. One William Froud married Rebbecca Mosseman on the 13th August 1654, at St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey, in London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Frode, which was dated 1184, in the Devonshire Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as 'The Builder of Churches' 1154-1189. 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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