(origin: Local) A town in Worcestershire, England, so called from the old English Dode-ley, the place of the dead, a burying-ground. Dodelig, in the Danish, signifies pale, death-like, mortal; so also the Dutch Doodelijk, and German Todlich. Duv-da-lethe, in the Gaelic and Celtic, which has been corrupted to Dudley, has the same signification.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

DUDLEY. A town and castle in co. Worcester. In Norman times it was the fief of the De Someries, whose descendants wei'e barons by tenure, though, as Sir H. Nicolas observes, it is questionable whether their title Avas that of " Dudley." So far as I see, no noble family called Dudley Avas ever possessor of that barony. * Dudley, one of the notorious extortioners of Henry VII., claimed to be a descendant of the Suttons, barons Dudley, and his father is said to have assumed the name of Dudley, though a more probable account makes him a travelling carpenter. Mouasticon, v. 5.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.