the place-name "pudsey" is first recorded in 1086 in the domesday book as "podechesai(e)". its etymology is rather uncertain: it seems most likely to derive from a putative personal name *"pudoc" and the word "ēg" meaning 'island' but here presumably referring metaphorically to an 'island' of good ground in moorland. thus the name would mean 'pudoc's island'. other possibilities have been suggested, however. in the early sixth century the district was in the kingdom of elmet, which seems to have retained its celtic character for perhaps as many as two centuries after other neighbouring kingdoms had adopted the cultural identity of the angles.