Etymology

Telford

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Today it means: A road pavement having a surface of small stone rolled hard and smooth, distinguished from macadam road by its firm foundation of large stones with fragments of stone wedged tightly in the interstices. Full definition →

Old French taille fer
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromtaille fer
  2. English todayTelford

From Old French taille fer, meaning "(he who) cuts iron" or "iron-cleaver"; used as a nickname for a man who could cleave clean through the armour of his foe. The second syllable was eventually reanalysed as native English 'ford'. Cognate with Tolliver, Taillefer, Telfair, Tallaferro, Taliaferro, Tagliaferro. Compare Eisenhauer. * (road): Named after Thomas Telford, a famous civil engineer.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.