Deriving from the Old English "unter", or Angeln (Danish-German)/Scandivadian equivalent—a preposition meaning "under" or "below"—plus "wuda", a wood, leading to the Saxon expression "unterwuda" sounding like "oontawooda".
The name was originally given to one dwelling at the foot of a wood or literally "below the trees of a forest".
[2] On 2 January 1634, one Joseph Underwood, aged 23 yrs., embarked from London on the ship Bonaventure bound for Virginia.
No less than seven coats of arms were granted to families of this name; a particular namebearer mentioned in the Dictionary of National Biography was one Michael Underwood (1737–1820), who practised in London as a surgeon and as a "male-midwife".
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Underwode which was dated 1188, in the "Records of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk", during the reign of King Henry II, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154–1189.