Trude

Recorded in several forms including Trodd, Trood, Troud, and Trude, this is an English surname, which seems to be mostly associated with East Anglia and Greater London. It has undergone many changes and according to the famous Victorian etymologist Canon Charles Bardsley, the origination is the same as the popular surname Trott. This is from the pre 7th century Anglo-Saxon word 'trude' meaning strength. He claimed that (over the centuries through popular useage) 'trude' became 'truite' as in the recording of Richard Truite in the rolls of Northumberland in 1189, and ultimately to 'Trott'. This is possible, almost anything is possible with surnames. However there is a place called Trood, near Exeter in Devonshire, so there is also a possibility that the surname as spelt in this scroll, is locational. Quite how 'Trood' came to be so called is not known, but the derivation may be not from 'trude' but from the Olde English 'treod' meaning wood, an explanation which could also logically explain the surname. Examples of the surname recording include Thomas Troud, whose daughter Mary was christened at Buckworth, Huntingdonshire, on July 22nd 1610, Richard Trod, who married Anne Stranguidge at St Gregory's by St Paul's, on November 2nd 1631, Ben Trood, a witness at St Mary Magdalene, Bermondsey, on September 22nd 1844, and Francis Trude, a witness at St James church, Paddington, on April 13th 1856, the latter three all being in the diocese of the city of London.