Show ContentsOder History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Oder was carried to England in the enormous movement of people that followed the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the Scandinavian given name Ottur. When used as a surname Otter indicates that the father of the original bearer was named Ottur.

Early Origins of the Oder family

The surname Oder was first found in Huntingdonshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, and are believed to be descended from the celebrated Castellan of Windsor, William FitzOther, son of Otherus, the Duke of Lombardy, the great Norman land owner at the time of the Conquest, who was also scion of the Fitzgeralds, the Gerards and the Windsors. The Clan proliferated in east Yorkshire, Nottingham, Lincoln and Derby.

Early History of the Oder family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Oder research. Another 141 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1140, 1250, 1264, 1291, 1296, 1548 and 1837 are included under the topic Early Oder History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Oder 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 Other, Others, Otter, Otters, Ottyr, Otre, Otir, Oter, Oder, Othyr, FitzOther and many more.

Early Notables of the Oder family

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


United States Oder 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 Oder or a variant listed above were:

Oder Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Thomas Oder, who landed in New Jersey in 1679 1
Oder Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Johannes George Oder, who settled in Philadelphia in 1733
Oder Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Margaret Oder, who settled in Baltimore in 1832
  • Johann Oder, who settled in Baltimore in 1832
  • Joseph Oder settled in San Francisco, California in 1852

Contemporary Notables of the name Oder (post 1700) +

  • J. B. Oder, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Allegany County, 1878 2


  1. 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)
  2. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 3) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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