Hood names born  in Britain in 1881 census with following dissection by county:

2. The number of persons with the surname Hood in Scotland is close, but sightly more than that for England [once multiple counting has been removed] which would not be expected if the source of the name was England. There have been large Scottish migrations to America, parts of the British Empire and to England, particularly London before the 1881 census. One nucleus for the growth of the surname was Angus which had the second highest recording in Scotland [463] with Perthshire [296] & Fifeshire [207].
The other nucleus in Scotland was centred on Ayrshire [545] which gave the highest count in Scotland and was associated with Renfrewshire [211].

3. Yorkshire had the highest number of Hood surnames of any county in England but we must take into account that Yorkshire is the largest of the English counties. Nottinghamshire by contrast has very few. Other significant anomalies occur in Staffordshire,Warwickshire & Wiltshire.
London, Middlesex & Kent were attracting people throughout Britain in search of employment and to some extent this still happens today, hence these have greater densities of the Hood surname. Thus London and Kent might be discounted as the source for the name having been a magnet for population resettlement from the northern counties. Like Scotland, East Anglia has a high background count.

4. Although Wales is awarded the honour of inventing the longbow, this country had very few Hood surnames recorded in 1881. The longbow was reputed to be the favourite weapon of "Robin Hood" the outlaw, although the early ballads do not refer to longbows. The longbow was made popular by Edward I, "The Hammer of Scotland" when he used Welsh bowmen against the Scots* although it was most likely first brought into military circles by "Strongbow", Richard FitzRichard De Clare in the 1100's.

5. Staffordshire has an unusual concentration of Hood surnames, this may be due to the attraction of "The Potteries" a destination for labour in the 1700-1800's. Burslem a suburb of Stoke on Trent has the highest count of Hood surnames in Staffordshire. In Staffordshire there are also place-names associated with Anthony Munday's plays, Loxley near Uttoxeter and  Huntington, West of Cannock Chase. Chartley was a castle held by Ranulf De Blondeville, 4th Earl of Chester, whilst a little further North is Hilderstone near which lay the lands of the FitzOdo family during the 1100's.

                                            
                                                                  The numbers refer to the following Yorkshire place-names:

1=North Bierley. 2=Leeds. 3=York. 4=Middlesborough. 5=Hull. 6=Bradford. 7=Sheffield. 8=Sutton Howgrave. 9=Pickering. 10=Cottingham. 11=Crayke. 12=Bridlington.  13=Foxholes. 14=Terrington. 15=Yorks non loc. 16=Doncaster. 17=Southowram.  18=Hornsea. 19=Osmotherly. 20=Knottingley.  21=Redcar. 22=Ryton.

                                     .  
                                     Also see: Hood surname survey by birthplace 1881 for Yorkshire [Zipped Works database]

This distribution shows major concentrations in
i) The "Scottish Corridor" (North Allerton, Sutton Howgrave etc.)
ii) The North Yorkshire Moors including Pickering
iii) Flamborough, Hornsea and hinterland.
iv) Hull and hinterland.
v) West Yorkshire.
Results for Bradford and Leeds might be expected to have higher numbers due to their regional pull but there is also North Bierley (8 families mostly centred on the iron industry here). These families may be related to the Hood families of Sheffield who were also primarily involved with the iron and steel industry. That there is a sudden decline in the graph shown above after Sheffield [from 20 to 15] probably indicates the regional attraction of the emergent industries at this time.
Of these Pickering seems to stand out as being the only rural township with a higher than expected number of Hood surnames. This would add weight to the proposition that a Robin "Hood" of Redesdale [Rosedale] was born at Hartoft End in the North Yorkshire Moors, although the sceptic might add that the larger number of persons carrying the Hood surname in this locality might engender such a local legend.

If we examine Yorkshire and Staffordshire in detail for the 1881 census we identify two distinct regions for the family name, each centred on their own county, Staffordshire and Yorkshire. It is evident that the industrialisation of each of these counties had an effect upon the distribution of this surname.
In Yorkshire, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Bradford are the main regional centres and have won the lion's share of the individuals. Staffordshire has concntrations in 'The Potteries' particularly at Burslem and the Greater Birmingham area. Both counties possess a place-name Loxley but each is separarated by almost a desert for the surname in the intervening county of Derbyshire. Certainly Derbyshire is not as populous as the other two claimant counties, as part of the Pennine watershed separating the two counties. The surname appears more widespread in Yorkshire and less so in Staffordshire.
The name Robin of Holderness appears in 1469 as a leader with Robin of Redesdale.¹
He led rebel demonstrations in the north of England against Edward IV. John Warkworth identified Robin of Redesdale as Sir William Conyers [d. 1495] but it was more likely his brother John of Redesdale ["Little John"?]. Robin of Holderness could have been Robert Hillyard of Winestead or his son. The rebellion was instigated by Richard Neville "The Kingmaker" [external link] the 16th earl of Warwick. The appearance of the name Robin  in the East/North Yorkshire region is again apparent. This diversion might explain some of the references written into the ballads at this time, changing and adding characters to suit the audience of the time. As time moved on, we seem to observe this particularly in Tudor and Elizabethan times.

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