Paddock

Recorded in various spellings including Paddick, Paddock, and Pattock, this is an English surname. It is of medieval English origin, and is either a locational surname from the villages called Paddock Wood, in the county of Kent, or Paddock Head, in West Yorkshire, and now a suburb of the town of Huddersfield, or it is a topographical name for a dweller by a paddock or meadow. This is from the Old English pre 7th century word "pearroc", and the later "parrock". Another possibility at least for some name holders, is that it may be a medieval nickname surname. This is from the Old English word "padduc", meaning a frog, and hence presumably somebody who in some way resembled the animal. Listed in the British National Biography is Tom Paddock (1823 - 1863), the bare fist champion of All England 1855. He was defeated in the following year by Bill Perry, known as "The Tipton Slasher". Amongst many surviving examples in the registers of the diocese of Greater London are: Margaret Paddock who married Richard Savidg on September 16th 1594 at St. Brides, Fleet Street, Sarah Pattock who was christened at St Katherines by the Tower (of London), on December 3rd 1725, and Charles Paddick, who married Mary Wyatt at St Pancras Old Church on August 11th 1794. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Paddoc. This was dated 1279, in the Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.