Chetwode is the name of a place in Buckinghamshire, England. Basil Cottle (DICTIONARY OF SURNAMES, 1967, pp. 19, 89) suggests the name Chetwode is from the Briton "Chet" and Old English "wode," both words meaning wood, making the actual meaning of Chetwode, "wood wood." The Britons (Celts) were in England prior to the Roman invasion in the 1st century A.D., and the German tribes of Angles and Saxons came in the 5th century. Mr. Cottle thinks the reason for the double meaning is that perhaps the Anglo-Saxons asked, "What is the name of this place?" and then they added their own word to the place name.

Frank Bulkeley Smith (THE CHETWODE FAMILY IN ENGLAND, 1910, p. 1) states his opinion: "The name Chetwode is taken from the earliest authentic abode of the family, Chetwode the name of a parish,. Formerly it was a hamlet or village in the ancient hundred of Rovelai, county of Buckingham. Lipscomb and Willis Browne, in their histories of Buckinghamshire, say the name Cithwood,' means 'springwood.' In records concerning the family, the following spellings have been found: Chetwode, Chetwood, Chitwode, Chitwood, Chytewode, Chettwood, Chittwode, Cheetwod, Cheetwode, Chetwod, Chetwoode, Ceteode, Chetnuid, Chewod, Chedwood, Chedwode."