Tedder
An English surname that may be either occupational—someone who teddered hay—or a reduced form of an old personal name beginning with Theod-, meaning "people" or "nation."
The #6,217 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,136 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Tedder has two historically discussed explanations. One derives it from the occupational word tedder, a haymaker who spreads cut hay so it dries; one source explicitly connects this usage to Scandinavian speech. Another source instead treats Tedder as a development from an Old English personal name of Theod- type, built from elements meaning "people" or "nation" plus "army."
History
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname writers did not agree on the origin, and both occupational and personal-name explanations were proposed. The occupational sense fits English rural naming patterns well, while the personal-name theory links it to older Germanic naming forms. In practice, the surname is established in England and later appears in the United States through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 1914 surname study glossed Tedder quite literally as a man who "teds" hay—turns and spreads it while it dries.
From the historical record
“of 'Edward'. TEDDER (Eng.) for the A.-Sax. Theodhere = National Army [O.E. ^edd, nation, people + here, army] TEDDINGTON (Eng.) Bel. to i Teddington (Wore), A.D. 969 Teottingc[_a]tun, a.d. 780 ' Teotting[a]tun — the Estate of the Teotta Family [Teotta is app. a pet form of an A.-Sax. Theod- name (y. Te^d) -I-…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Tedder
- Ryan Tedder (b. 1979)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.