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Tedford seems to be an English surname from a place name. I can't find a direct reference to it in my reference books, but other English place names which have Ted as a first syllable (Tedstone, Tedburn, and Teddington) all seem to go back to an Old English given name, Tette, Teotta, or Teod. It is uncertain what this originally meant, but some experts guess that it could be a variation of the syllable theod- which occurs in old Germanic names and meant "people."

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The above information is from a combination of Hanks & Hodges' A Dictionary of Surnames and A. D. Mills' A Dictionary of English Place-Names.

-Ford usually indicates that someone is named for a place (Oxford, Swineford) a ford is a place where animals cross a river, hence usually it's an animal + ford. I don't know what a Ted would be... possibly some abbreviated or mangled version of an animal name.

I would guess it's English, as -ford is a very common element in English surnames. Tedford definitely started out as a surname, and later was transferred to first name use, I guess. Now Ted is usually a nickname for Edward (or Edmund, Edgar, Edwin, etc...in the Middle Ages, there were so many people who shared a few basic first names: Robert, James, John, Thomas, that the first letter of the nickname was added or changed. So you could have Edward, Ed, Ted, & Ned. Robert used to have nicknames like Hob & Nob, in addition to Rob & Bob. Sorry, that was a massive tangent, I just think it's interesting!) Anyhow, not sure if your name is derived from Edward or what, just wanted to throw that out there. If it were, it might mean Edward's ford (place to cross a river). Good luck finding a more definitive answer!