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English: from the Middle English personal name Dodd(e) Dudd(e) Old English Dodd(a) Dudd(a) a name of uncertain origin which remained in fairly widespread and frequent use from Lincolnshire to Devon and from Essex to Lancashire in England until the 14th century. English: nickname from Middle English dod a word of uncertain meaning possibly a ‘lumpish thickset person’ (compare modern English dialect dod ‘bunch or heap’) or by extension a ‘foolish person’ (compare Middle English dode-mused ‘stupid’) or perhaps a derivative of dodden ‘to shave (the head) to trim (hair)’ hence ‘the hairless or close-cropped one’. English: possibly a modern variant of Daud or Dowd the former arising from the Middle English personal name Daud(e) an extended form of Daw and the latter from the Middle English personal name Doude perhaps a side-form of either Dodde or of Daude a pet form of Ralph . Irish: of English origin (see 1 above) taken to Sligo in the 16th century by a Shropshire family; also sometimes adopted by bearers of the Gaelic name Ó Dubhda (see Dowd ).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
Variants include those above and also Dotts, Dodtz, Dodts, Dotz, Dutts, Dood, Dodds, Dadd, Dadds, Dadson, Dadswell, Dods, Dodson