Show ContentsOde History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Ode was carried to England in the enormous movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the popular Norman given name Odo.

Early Origins of the Ode family

The surname Ode was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the manor of Storkhouse, Gisburn, and Withernsea in that shire. They are conjecturally believed to be descended from Count Odo who was also ancestor of the Counts of Aumale and the Lords of Holderness.

Early History of the Ode family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ode research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ode History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ode Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Oddie, Oddey, Odey, Oddy, Hoddy, Hoddie, Odo and many more.

Early Notables of the Ode family

More information is included under the topic Early Ode Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ode Ranking

In France, the name Ode is the 8,565th most popular surname with an estimated 500 - 1,000 people with that name. 1


United States Ode migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Ode or a variant listed above were:

Ode Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Johannes Ode, who landed in New York in 1709 2
  • Rudolph Ode, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1749 2


  1. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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