This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is one of the earliest surnames recorded. The name derives from a Germanic word used to describe something round and plump, used in Olde English pre 7th Century as a byname or nickname for such a person, and also found recorded as a personal name; for example: "Dodda" (1066, Worcestershire), and "Dodde" de Lismanoch (1194, Devonshire). The personal name, found in the medieval Middle English as "Dodde" and "Dudde", was in use from Lincolnshire to Devonshire, and from Essex to Lancashire until the 14th Century. In a minority of cases the modern surname, found recorded as Dodd and Dod, and the patronymic forms Dods and Dodds, "son of Dod(d)", may mean "the hairless or close-cropped one", from the Olde English "dod", to make bare, but in the majority of cases the surname is from the medieval personal name. One James Dodd was an early emigrant to America, leaving London on the "Abigall" in July 1635 bound for New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Aelfweard Dudd, which was dated circa 1030, in the "Early Charters of Hampshire", during the reign of King Canute, 1016 - 1035. 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.