Given name & surname · also Middle English
Bedford
Bedford is a surname from Middle English, ultimately from Old English.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Bedford comes from Middle English, and ultimately from Old English.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Middle English Bedforde, from Old English Bedaford, built from English Bede's + ford.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Bedford through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,240
- 1,240 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1924
- 41 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 41 in 1924. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 415 as a first name in 2020; 8,676 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
People named Bedford
- Bedford JezzardEnglish footballer (1927-2005)
- Bedford BrownAmerican politician in North Carolina (1795-1870)
- Bedford PimEnglish naval officer and barrister1826–1886
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Bedford, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Belford
“bell; bell-shaped hill”
>99% boys
Welford
“well, spring, stream”
>99% boys
Berwick
“barley”
>99% boys
Bidwell
“tub, vat”
>99% boys
Rexford
“from the king's ford”
>99% boys
Elworth
“enclosure”
>99% boys
Montford
“common, general, communal”
>99% boys
Wolford
“wolf”
>99% boys