Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from the city in West Yorkshire, or the place in Kent. The former is of British origin, appearing in Bede in the form Loidis ‘People of the Lāt’, (Lāt being an earlier name of the river Aire, meaning ‘the violent one’). Loidis was originally a district name, but was subsequently restricted to the city. The Kentish place name may be from an Old English stream name hl̄de ‘loud, rushing stream’.
- Daniel Leeds (1652–1720) was born in England, probably in Nottinghamshire, and emigrated to America with his father, Thomas, some time in the third quarter of the 17th century. The family settled in Shrewsbury, NJ, in 1677. Daniel made almanacs and was surveyor general of the Province of West Jersey in 1682. He was married four times and had numerous children.