Frequency: (1186)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: variant of Ida. There is a place called Ide near Exeter in Devon; the etymology is obscure, perhaps from a pre-English river name; it does not seem to be connected with the surname.
2. North German: variant of Ihde.
3. Japanese: ‘sluice’, ‘spillway’; a topographic name for someone who lived near a dam. Variously written, it originated in Echizen and Kaga (now Fukui and Ishikawa prefectures) and is found mostly in eastern Japan.
GIVEN NAMES: Japanese 8%. Haruyuki (2), Isao (2), Tadahiko (2), Takashi (2), Takayuki (2), Yoshihiro (2), Hideo, Hiroko, Hiromi, Hiroshi, Izumi, Junichi.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
