'Woodford' means the ford in or by the wood.
The ford was where a minor Roman road from London crossed the River Roding. The name was recorded as Wudeford in 1062 and as Wdefort in the Domesday Book of 1086. By 1238 the ford had been replaced by a bridge, and by 1805 part of the district was called Woodford Bridge. Woodford was never one village, but a collection of hamlets.