Eddy
Usually a nickname from Edward, though some early English forms may also reflect a pet form of Edith or Edie.
The #1,858 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,980 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Eddy is generally explained as a pet or nickname form of Edward. In older English naming, short forms like Ed, Edde, and Edie could be used familiarly and then become hereditary surnames. Some 19th-century writers also connected Eddy with feminine pet forms such as Edith or Edie, so the name may have more than one early source in English records.
History
Bardsley and Lower both treat Eddy as an English surname found in forms related to Eady and Eddis, and Lower specifically suggests it may be a nickname of Edward. The name appears in English directories and records in several spelling variants, including Eddy, Eady, Eadie, and Eddis. It also traveled to North America, where it remains established but not especially common.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars noted that the same short name family produced a surprisingly large cluster of spellings in English directories.
From the historical record
“through Eddy. EDDY. See Eady and Eddis ; perhaps a nickname of Edward. EDE. See Eade. EDEN. Though the pedigree is not traced higher than the year U13, there is no reason to doubt that the name is local and derived from either Castle Eden or Little Eden in the county of Durham, where, as jMr. Courthope asserts, the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Eddy
- Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.