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English: habitational name from any of several places called with Old English scīr + wudu ‘bright or clear (perhaps sparsely-grown) wood’. In Yorkshire the name usually refers to Sherwood (Hall) in Eggborough (Yorkshire) but some examples could alternatively derive from Sherwood (House) in Stainforth (Yorkshire) or from the Nottinghamshire forest name in 2 below. The Devon name is from Sherwood (Green) in Yarnscombe (Devon). These are well evidenced as medieval placenames and there may be similar but unrecorded places that could account for the medieval surname in other counties such as East Yorkshire Norfolk Oxfordshire and Sussex. Sherwood occurs in minor placenames in Berkshire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent North Yorkshire Sussex and Wiltshire but they are recorded only in modern times and in many cases will have been named from the surname or perhaps in imitation of 2 below. This name was established in Ireland in the 17th century. See also Sherrard . English: habitational name from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire (‘the shire wood’). Americanized form of some Jewish name.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022