Bodo (variants Botho, Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto, etc.) is an Old High German name, also adopted in Modern German. It is in origin a short name or hypocorism for Germanic names with a first element Bod-, Puot-, reflecting the verbal root beud- "to bid, command". As a monothematic name, Old High German Boto, Old Saxon Bodo, could mean "lord, commander" or alternatively "messenger" (c.f. Old English bod "command; message", boda "messenger, angel"). Full dithematic names with this first element (attested for the medieval period but not surviving into modern use) included Bodegisil, Bothad, Bodomar, Boderad, Poterich, Bodirid, Butwin, Potelfrid, Botolf, Podalolf, Bodenolf.
The Anglo-Saxon cognate was Beda (West Saxon Bīeda, Northumbrian Bǣda, Anglian Bēda).
Middle AgesBodo (deacon), 9th-century German deacon who converted to Judaism, assuming the name of EleazarBodo VII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1375-1455)Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1467-1538)Early ModernBodo Otto (1711–1787), a Senior Surgeon of the Continental Army during the American RevolutionModernBodo Bittner, West German bobsledderBodo Ferl (born 1959), East German retired bobsledderBodo Hell (born 1943), Austrian writerBodo Hombach (born 1952), German politicianBodo Illgner (born 1967), German former football goalkeeperBodo Lafferentz (1897–1974), Nazi and high-ranking SS officerBodo Linnhoff (born 1948), chemical engineerBotho Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein (1927–2008), German politicianBodo Ramelow (born 1956), German politicianBodo Rudwaleit (born 1957), German former football goalkeeperBodo Schmidt (born 1967), German football coach and former playerBotho Strauß (b. 1944), German playwrightBodo Thyssen (1918–2004), German industrialist and medical doctorBodo Tümmler (born 1943), German former middle distance runner