Family name origins & meanings
- English and Scottish : topographic name for someone who lived near or in a wood, from Middle English under + wude, wode ‘wood’, or a habitational name from any of various places so named, for example in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and the former county of Ayrshire (from Old English under + wudu).
- Joseph Underwood emigrated from England to Watertown, MA, in 1637. William Underwood came from England to Concord, MA, before 1640, later settling in Chelmsford, MA.