Early records reveal that this surname originated in England. Duddy is a variation of the name Dodd. Written documents are an easy prey for the natural destructiveness of time; thus it is often no mean task to discover records of some of the earliest individuals who used a particular surname. In the case of William Dod, however, meticulous investigations have yielded most interesting results: The earliest written reference to someone with this surname pertains to a certain Willelmus Dodde, mentioned in a document from the 13th century. The coat of arms displayed on this page was that of one branch of the Dodd family; it was used by Hugo Dod. Centuries ago, many families displayed mottoes – concise phrases which might express anything from a pun on the name to a religious or philosophical guiding principle – on scrolls, or below their coat of arms. The motto used by the Dodd family was “In copia cautus”: “Careful amid plenty”. Probably one of the first individuals bearing the surname Dodd to emigrate to America was a certain Daniel Dod, who at age 18 sailed from Port of London in t…