Redd
An old nickname surname built from a word for “red” or “ruddy,” likely first used for someone with red hair or a ruddy complexion.
The #2,749 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,534 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Redd is most likely a nickname surname from an old Germanic word meaning “red” or “ruddy.” The historical citations connect it with forms such as Old English and related Teutonic words for red, and with surnames like Read, Reed, Reid, and Rudd. In practice, it would have been given to someone with red hair, a reddish beard, or a notably ruddy face.
History
The name is uncommon, and historical writers usually treat it as a short form in the same family as the more frequent red-based surnames Read, Reed, and Reid. It appears in English records by the early modern period, but the excerpts here do not show a single fixed place of origin. Because the form is brief, it may also sometimes represent spelling variation rather than a distinct ancestral line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname sits in a large nickname cluster that also produced forms like Ruddock, literally “redbreast,” from the same color-based idea.
From the historical record
“READI NG (Eng.) Bel. to Reading, 9th and loth cent. Reddingas = (the Estate of the) ReAd- Family [O.E. redd, red + the pi., -ingas (dat, pi. -ingum), of the fil. suff. -ing] H6r cu6m se here t6 Reddingum on West Seaxe. (In this year came the [Danish] army to”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)