Surname is of early medieval English origin, and possibly means either a butcher who specialised in puddings, or a stout (barrel shaped) person. The derivation is Germanic 'Pud(d)', to swell or bulge (as in 'pudding') and the Old English 'faet' meaning vessel or vat. First recorded in 1188 as Roger Pudifat in the 'Pipe Rolls Of Cambridgeshire'.