Atwood

Part of speech: noun, verb, adjective

Definitions

1. A family name shared by several notable people, such as a well-known Canadian novelist and a historic British physicist
2. A surname carried by a number of prominent individuals in literature, science and public life across different countries
3. A hereditary family name held by several famous figures, including a celebrated writer and an eighteenth-century scientist

Etymology: Atwood began as a phrase rather than a name: Middle English "atte wood," meaning "at the wood." Medieval English people were often identified by where they lived, and someone who lived by a wood or in a clearing could be called "atte wood." Over the centuries the separate words ran together, and the preposition "atte" fused with the noun into a single surname. The same process produced many other English surnames. "Atwell," for example, comes from "atte well," meaning "at the spring." Atwood is now used mainly as a family name, and it is also the name of several places, but the surname is the form most people encounter today.