Eddowes Family History

Apparently a variant of Edowe + post-medieval excrescent -s, but the origin of Edowe is obscure. It might have arisen from an English misinterpretation of Welsh Beddow as ap Eddow on the model of Welsh surname variations like Evan and Bevan. It occurs only after the medieval period of surname formation: Thomas Edowe 1595 in IGI (Manchester Lancs); Rowland Edow 1603, Jane Eddowe 1605, Richard Edo 1697 in IGI (Nuneaton Warwicks); Jane Edo 1604, William Edoe 1612 in IGI (Mancetter Warwicks); David Edow 1612 in IGI (Chester Cheshire).

Variation with -s-forms is rare but includes John Edowes 1609, Elinor Edowe 1613 in IGI (Holborn Middx), Randall Eddow 1626, Richard Eddows 1635 in IGI (Malpas Cheshire), and Ran. Eddow 1652, Roger Eddows 1678 in IGI (Whitchurch Shrops). Potential evidence for variation with Beddow(s) in the same parishes is also difficult to find: Randull Eddowes 1656, John Beddow 1673, Eleanor Beddows 1741 in IGI (Malpas Cheshire); Raphe Edowes 1656, Edward Beddoes 1729 in IGI (Oswestry Shrops).

In these instances, Eddow(s) always appears earlier than Beddow(s) and the two names may originally have had nothing to do with each other. An alternative possibility is that Edowe was back-formed from Edowes, in which case Edowes would be a variant of Edis from the Middle English female personal name Edus.

Compare Edusecros about 1301 in Place-Names of Cheshire 1 p. 124 recorded in Macclesfield, where (no doubt coincidentally) the surname Eddows appears some 400 years later. For this name in East Anglia and the London area, see also Edhouse.