Heywood as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Heywood

What is the meaning of the name Heywood ?

The baby name Heywood is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈheɪ.wʊd/ (HAY-wud).

Heywood is English in Origin.

Heywood is an English toponymic name, taken from a surname that arose from several places called Heywood or Haywood. Its elements come from Old English heg/hey, meaning "hedge" or "enclosure," and wudu, "wood," giving the sense "hedged/enclosed wood" or "wood by the hedge." Spelling variants include Haywood and Heywoode; related but distinct is Heyward/Hayward, an occupational surname for a field-warden. Nicknames include Woody and Hey.

Found as a surname in medieval records, Heywood began occasional use as a given name in Britain by the 18th to 19th centuries and spread to the United States through the fashion for transferred surnames. It remains uncommon but recognizable, aided by bearers such as American journalist Heywood Broun and broadcaster Heywood Hale Broun, and by the fictional Dr. Heywood Floyd in Arthur C. Clarke's space novels. The name carries a pastoral, Old English character while fitting the modern surname-as-first-name trend.

⚙ Heywood is a rare name. It doesn't appear in any of the major national birth registries we track; we found only 19 recorded uses across 5 countries. Expect very few children to share this name.