English2 syllablesPlace name
Meaning: Row of houses by a wood; the row at the wood.
Woodrow
| Origin | English place name and surname |
|---|---|
| Meaning | From Old English wudu (wood) + rāw (row) — a row of cottages at the edge of a wood |
| Pronunciation | WOOD-roh (two syllables) |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100 and rare there. Woodrow was a common American name for boys born between 1913 and the early 1920s and has been scarce ever since |
| Variants | Woodrough, Woodrowe |
| Nicknames | Woody, Wood, Row |
| Famous bearer | Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), 28th U.S. president, born Thomas Woodrow Wilson |
History & meaning
Woodrow is a piece of English landscape description that hardened into a surname. Old English wudu is wood and rāw is a row, so a woodrow was a line of cottages standing at the edge of woodland — the kind of feature that gave a hamlet its name and then gave its residents theirs. Several small places in the English Midlands and West Country still carry it.
The name would have stayed a surname if not for one American. Thomas Woodrow Wilson, born in Virginia in 1856, was named for his maternal grandfather and dropped the Thomas in his late twenties while beginning an academic career. As Woodrow Wilson he became president of Princeton, governor of New Jersey and then president of the United States in 1913. American parents responded immediately, and Woodrow was a common name on boys born during his two terms. It vanished almost as fast as it appeared.
Why parents choose it
Woody. The full name is stately and a little unusual, and the short form is one of the friendliest in English — it belongs to a folk singer, an actor, a filmmaker and a cowboy doll. For parents drawn to nature-leaning names, Woodrow is a way to get there without naming a child after a tree outright. It is also long enough to balance a short surname, a practical advantage that most vintage revivals of two syllables do not offer.
Middle names for Woodrow
Two syllables ending in a long o take a crisp middle well: Woodrow James, Woodrow Finn, Woodrow Bennett, Woodrow Charles. More on this in the middle names guide.
Famous Woodrows
Woody Guthrie was born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie in Oklahoma in 1912, named for the presidential candidate, and wrote "This Land Is Your Land". Woody Harrelson was born Woodrow Tracy Harrelson in 1961. President Wilson himself remains the reason the name exists as a first name at all. Larry McMurtry gave the name to Woodrow F. Call, the taciturn ranger of Lonesome Dove, which is where a great many American readers first met it.
Consider instead
Forrest is the other American wood name with a Woody-adjacent feel. Franklin is the presidential surname name with the same period. Walter shares the era and the unhurried sound.