An English and Scottish surname of Woods is the plural form of Wood. The Old English spelling was ‘wudu’ and the Middle English was ‘wode’ which all meant wood from a tree and a person who lived near woods.

Additional spellings for Woods are Woode, Wold, Voud, Wode, Would, Vould and Wood.

In England the Woods surname is found in Lancashire, Suffolk, Norfolk and London. The lower southwestern region of Scotland has the most with the Woods surname, especially in Lanarkshire and Dumfries-shire counties. From migration to Canada and Australia there are Woods families in those countries.

The Woods surname is located in most of the states between the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Plains in large numbers.

Famous: Edward Woods (actor), John Woods (of music for national anthem of New Zealand), Rashaun Woods (professional football player), Tiger Woods (professional golfer), Jake Woods (professional baseball player), James Woods (actor), George ‘Pinky’ Woods (professional baseball player), Tim Woods (professional wrestler) and William Burnham Woods (19thcentury Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court).