This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Baldwin,' from the nick. Baud or Bodd, familiarly Boddy. From this nick, were formed the dims. Bod-in (v. Boden), Bod-kin (q. v.), and Baud-et. It is only by realizing the enormous popularity of Baldwin that we can understand the marvellous impress it has made on hereditary nomenclature. Perhaps in some cases Body or Boddy represented the diminutive Baudet, of which I furnish an instance.

William Body, Devon, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

John Bodd, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Richard Bodde, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Thomas Bodde, Oxfordshire, ibid.

John Bodde, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Baudet le Messager, Gloucestershire, 12891290: Household Exp. Bishop Swinfield, Cam. Soc.

1544. Married — William Dowell and Margaret Body: St. Antholin (London).

(Teutonic) Messenger, Herald [Old Norse boði; or = Bode (q.v.)+ the English diminutive suff.

-y] William Body.—Hundred Rolls

(Hungarian) One who came from Bod (meadow), in Hungary.

Boda, (latinized Bodus,) occurs in Domesd. as a previous tenant, and therefore probably a Saxon. Now boda is Anglo-Saxon, and bodi O.-Norse, for a messenger, and, in a subordinate sense, a preacher. It follows, therefore, that Truebody is equivalent to 'faithful messenger,' Light-body to 'active messenger,' and Freebody to ' ambassador of peace.' (A-Sax. frith, peace.) Again Handsomebody (the original meaning of handsome being handy, active) is a 'useful messenger,' while Goodbody, originally written Godebodi, may be no other than God's messenger-a preacher of the Gospel. The Gr. aγγελσς is used in the double sense of messenger and preacher in Mark, i. 2. See Ferguson for further conjectures.

From bod-wy, the dwelling by the water. This name however may sometimes be the same with the Anglo-Saxon Boda; from boda, Old Norse bodi, a messenger. Qy. the names Boddy, Boddey.

The same as Bodda, Boda (Latinised Bodus), probably from Anglo-Saxon boda, Old Norse bodi, a messenger. See also Bodkin.

From the Old Norse, Boddi (dimin. of Bödvarr); in the Domesday Book, Boda, Bodin, Boddus, Boding, Boter, Boti, Bot; from the French, Bodé; from the Danish, Bodi, Bodin, Bott; from the Flemish, Bodhy, Body; from the German, Bods, Bode, Böde; from the Swedish, Bode, Bodin; from the Dutch, Boddé, Bode, Boddaert, Bodt, Botter, Bott; a personal name.

Boddy is a Norfolk surname, said to be derived from "boda," the Anglo - Saxon word for "messenger" (L.). Two incumbents of Buckenham Parva and Hemlington, in the beginning of the 15th century, were named Body (Bl.). The name of Body occurred in Cambridgeshire, Hunts, and Oxfordshire in the 13th century (H. R). In its early form of Body it is also now represented in Cornwall.

Body has been a west of England name for six centuries or more. In the 13th century it was represented in Devonshire by William Body of Aspton (H. R.), and now it is still established in the neighbouring counties of Cornwall and Somerset. Amongst the martyrs of the Monmouth rebellion none behaved more courageously on the scaffold than Henry Body, a native of Lyme Regis, Dorset, who had fought as a seaman in the naval battles of the time of Charles II. (W.). In Cornwall the name has long been known. Last century there was a Mr. Michael Body at St. Agnes: Body was the name of the commissioner for the destruction of images in the Cornish churches who was murdered, whilst thus employed, at Helston, in 1549 (Polwhele's "Cornwall.").