Dudley

(male) Transferred use of the surname of a noble family, who came originally from Dudley in the West Midlands, named in Old English as the ‘wood or clearing of Dudda’. Their most famous member was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (?1532–88), who came closer than any other man to marrying Queen Elizabeth I. This given name is much less common in North America than in England. One of its best-known recent bearers was the comedian and actor Dudley Moore (1935–2002).