Origin and history of Todd

masc. proper name, also a surname (late 12c.), from Middle English todde "fox," a Northern English word of unknown origin. Tod-hole (mid-13c.) was an old provincial word for "fox's den." OED (1989) and Middle English Compendium make no connection of the word to obsolete tod "bush, thick mass of growing foliage"(from Old Norse), despite the old theory [Century Dictionary, 1895] that connects the "fox" word to this on the basis of "bushy tail."