Stafford Family History
Stafford Name Meaning
English: habitational name principally from Stafford (Staffordshire) but occasionally from other places with similar names such as Stafford House in Ifield (Sussex) possibly East and West Stowford in East Down (Devon) and three minor places in Devon called Stafford in Dolton Broadhembury and Colyton parishes. The places are all named with Old English ford ‘ford’ as the final element but have different initial elements. The Staffordshire placename has Old English stæth ‘river bank shore’; Stafford in Colyton (Devon) has Old English stān ‘stone rock’; the Sussex placename has Old English stēor ‘steer bullock’; East and West Stowford (Devon) have Old English stæf ‘staff stave rod’; Stafford in Dolton and Stafford in Broadhembury (Devon) may have Old English stæth stān or stæf. Irish (Wexford): variant of Stocker .
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022