Do you have a family history connection to Bedfordshire? These surnames have their origins in the English county, so if they show up in your family tree, they could indicate your Bedfordshire heritage:
1. BREED
Breed is a locative name for someone who lived by a broad strip of cultivated land.
2. BRIGHTMAN
This is a relationship name taken from the Old English personal name Brihtmann/Beorhtmann.
3. FOSSEY
Fossey is thought to stem from a lost place called Fotsey in the Bedfordshire parish of Aspley Guise.
4. HUCKELL/ HUCKLE
This may derive from the personal name Huck.
5. KEECH
This nickname for an overweight person comes from a Middle English word for a lump of fat.
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6. O'DELL/ ODELL
Both variants originated in the small village Odell in the north of the county.
7. PUDDEPHATT
This nickname is thought to come from a Middle English word for something swollen or obese.
8. PURSER
Purser is an occupational name from someone who made purses, or a burser/treasurer.
9. WILDMAN
This was a nickname for someone unrestrained.
10. WOODING
Most of the Woodings recorded in the 1881 census were living in Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire.
