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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Origin uncertain. It is probably a variant of English Bideford, habitational name from a seaport in North Devon, named with the Cornish river name B̄d, name of a local stream, + Old English ea ‘river’, + ford ‘ford’. Alternatively, it may perhaps be from Buddleford in Devon, so named with Old English boðl ‘dwelling’, ‘house’ + ford ‘ford’.

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