Underwood surname meaning

Underwood is an English topographic surname for someone who lived below a wood, often on the lower side of a wooded hillside. It could also be habitational, taken from any of several places named Underwood or similar forms. The elements are straightforward Middle English under and wode or wode, “wood,” but the exact landscape differed from one family to another. Underwood, Underwode, and related spellings occur in historical records. The catalog uses place with high confidence because the name describes residence or locality, not an inherited occupation or a single founding family.