Recorded in the spellings of Seed, Seeds, and Seedman, this is an English medieval surname. It may be occupational, and as such describe a grower of seeds or a supplier of seed, the derivation being from the Olde English word 'sede', but it is just as likely to have originated from a pre 7th century given name 'Sidu' meaning pure and moral. In the Latin form as 'Siduuinus', this name is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and about a century later in the county of Kent as Ricardus filius Sidewini. This however was not a hereditary surname recording, even though one of the famous Knight Templar's (Crusader) of the 12th century was 'Sidu of Kent'. The first recorded spelling as a hereditary surname may be that of Geoffrey Sede of the county of Lincolnshire in the year 1210. This was in the famous tax rolls known as the 'Curia Regis' of King John (1199 - 1216). Later recordings include William Sede of Worcester in the Subsidy Rolls of 1327, and in the register of the University of Oxford for 1725, Jeremiah Seed M.A. He was famous for his religious works, and for seven years until his death in 1747 was the rector of Knights Euham, in the county of Hampshire.

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