Our Surnames W-X-Y-Z
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W
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WADE. From an Old English personal name, honouring the legendary Sea-Giant of that name. Possibly and more prosaically, it can mean a dweller by the ford.
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WAITE. An ancient town watchman. Oddly, such an occupation was associated with musicianship – could it be to keep themselves awake in the long watches of the night? Our WAITEs were located in Shildon and there is said to be a cluster in E. Yorkshire.
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WAKE. The alert or wakeful one.
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WALDER. A forest-dweller, deriving from Old English wald. We must consider that some WALDERs have been re-spelled as WALTER.
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WALKER. Obviously one who walks. What is a little surprising, however, is that the original WALKER did not walk roads or streets, but cloth, as a fuller!
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WALL. A dweller by the wall; in our context, probably the Roman one.
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WALLACE,  WALLIS. The Celt or “Welshman”. Wallace is the more Scottish of the forms and applies to natives of Strathclyde back in the 12^th C.
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WALLER. Possibly a wall-builder, or further south, a well-maker particularly in respect of salt-wells. It might also derive from the Old French guallier, a dandy.
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WALSH, WELCH, WELSH. A foreigner or incomer – not necessarily from Wales but very probably a Celt.
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WALTON. From the place-name, of which there are many. A likely contender is near Brampton. (Landranger Sheet 86. Grid Ref. NY 523645). The place-name can have several derivations as Wal- may mean Wall, Weald or Ancient Brit (as in Wales) but the Walton above stands on the Roman Wall. Of many notable WALTONs, we must mention Jacob, born 1808. He was a mine-owner and farmer and played a major part in bringing the railway to Alston. Between times, he also found time for committee work with the Literary, Scientific and Mechanical Institute. So popular was he, that on the day of his funeral in 1863, all the shops of the town closed as a mark of respect. Other WALTONs include a family of cabinetmakers, active in Newcastle upon Tyne in the mid 19^th C.
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WANDLESS, WANLESS. Said to be a name “peculiar to Northumberland”. One possible meaning is “the unlucky one” (Middle English “wanles”); Black considers this “improbable” but offers little alternative.
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WARBURTON. From the place-name in Cheshire. (Now Greater Manchester, Grid Ref. SJ6989)
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WARD. While there are a few possible Old English words from which this name may be derived, the most probable is from weard, “watching” and hence a watchman or guard.
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WAREING, WARING. From an Old German personal name, WARIN, common amongst the Normans. It might also be a re-spelling of WARREN, from La Varenne (Seine Inférieure) and probably nothing to do with rabbits.
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WARWICK. From the place-name. While the best known is the county-town with its castle, there is another, just to the east of Carlisle in Cumbria which has most probably given rise to surnames in our area.
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WATERMAN. This may be taken literally, either as a water carrier or a boatman. Alternatively it could be Walter’s Man – a servant or household member.
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WATERS. Probably Walter’s Man, as above.
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WATSON. Son of Wat (i.e. Walter), and a very widespread and distinguished name it is in our area! The name has a long pedigree in Scotland, too, from which the family of dyers, ancestors to one of our contributors, came in the 19thC.
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WATT, WATTS. Much the same as WATSON.
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(Note. There is also a widespread Pennine name, mostly in Yorkshire and Lancashire – WATMOUGH (various spellings), meaning Walter’s relative-by-marriage. There must be some significance that of all the Mediaeval given names, Walter / Wat has had so many people claiming a connection!)
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WAUGH. The experts disagree! (So what’s new?) It may or may not be a contraction of WAUCHOPE from the dale of that name in the western Marches. Be that as it may, the names had separate identities by the mid 13^thC and have spread far and wide ever since. The alternative derivation of WAUGH is that it is from the Old English walh, i.e. foreigner, c.f. WALSH, as insults were traded along and across the Border. At another border, of course, the same source-word gives us Wales and Welsh! It is not currently thought to be anything to do with WALL, despite originating quite close to the famous one!
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WAY. A wayside dweller. This does not seem to have any particular N Pennine association.
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WAYWELL No data yet available. It might be the same as WHEWELL, q.v.
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WEARHAUGH. Wear is the river and –haugh usually derives from Old English halh, which, like so many old words, had a fairly general meaning which, in the North, has come to mean a water-meadow, particularly one in the bend of the river. All we’ve got to do is identify the bend!
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WEARMOUTH. Presumably an inhabitant of one of the Wearmouth villages: Monk- or Bishop- .
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WEARS. In general terms, a dweller by the weir, or a fisherman. In our area it may be associated with the river.
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WEBSTER. A weaver. Although this is strictly the female form of the job-title (cf. BREWSTER), the term was applied also to men. As a surname, therefore, it could come from either parent.
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WEIGHTMAN, WIGHTMAN(?). Either a strong and brave man – “wiht + man” or an elvish one! More prosaically, there is a probability that as our researcher finds WEIGHTMANs mainly in County Durham, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire  - all in the Victorian coalmining areas – it could be a coalminer who operated the weights.
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WELLS. A dweller by the wells. As the place-name is a long way distant in Somerset, the generic “wells” is more probable.
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WELCH, WELSH. See WALSH.
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WEST. The man from the west. Significantly, the early examples come from Norfolk and Essex, showing the usual tendency to label incomers!
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WESTENRA. The family name of the Barons of Rossmore, a  major landowning family in Ireland since the 17^th Century. The name is believed to be Dutch, “WESTENRAGGAH”. Captain and Mrs WESTENRA sailed with their 7 children from England to New Zealand on board the Barque “Midlothian” in 1851.
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WESTGARTH. A place-name meaning “western enclosure”. Westgarth in Cumbria (Landranger Sheet 86, Grid Ref. NY501579)
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WESTPFAHL. The name arrived in our area in the form of German girls seeking work as domestic maids in the 19thC.
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WESTWICK. From the place-name in Co. Durham, just outside Barnard Castle. (Landranger Sheet 92, Grid Ref. NZ 072155)
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WETHERELL, WETHERELL. From the place-name Wetheral in Cumbria (Grid Ref. NY4654).
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WHALEY. From Whalley in Lancashire or Whaley in Derbyshire. (Grid Ref. SK5171)
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(ONS).  whaley@one-name.org
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WHARTON. From Warton in Northumberland (Grid Ref. NU0002) or Lancashire, or Wharton in Cheshire (Grid Ref. SJ6666)
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WHEATLEY. (ONS). Probably from Wheatley in west Yorkshire (map) although there are other similar place-names throughout the country.
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WHEETSLIT. The name almost certainly derives from Weetslade (pronounced “–slit”), a former mining village north of Newcastle. It appears on many of the census entries in the 1800s and was part of the Parish of Longbenton. The colliery ceased coal production in 1966 but operated as a coal-washing site until 1985. Its 60 hectare site was converted into a Country Park by One North East and was opened on Saturday 17th June 2006, with David Bellamy as the guest of honour. (Landranger Sheet 88, Grid Ref. NZ 260725)
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WHELDON. Probably the same as WELDON, “a dweller by the hill by the stream”. Could be a place-name, although the only candidate is in Northamptonshire.
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WHEWEL, WHEWELL. A wheelwright. Woodworking seems to have run in the family, as the most famous WHEWELL, who rates 10 whole pages in the Dictionary of National Biography, was the son of a Master Carpenter from Lancaster. William WHEWELL (1794-1866), Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was an academic, scientist, philosopher, priest and athlete. What more can one say?
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WHITAKER. From a place-name which can mean wheat-acre, or white acre. (Don’t forget an acre is any open, cultivated land, not necessarily 4840 square yards.) There are various place-names to choose from.
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WHITE. “The fair-headed one” is a likely derivation, but the existence of DE WYTE and ATTE WYTE as early surnames suggests dwellers at a watchtower or lookout post. (See WAITE)
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WHITEHEAD. The obvious origin “white haired one” is probably true in the majority of cases. However, some early references have a spelling which may come from hwit-hod, “the white hood”. There is even one name which seems to derive from the “white head” of a hill or field!
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WHITFIELD. A dweller by the white field or more probably a specific place-name, such as Whitefield or Whitfield in Northumberland, (Grid Ref. NZ2386, NY7758, NY9083)
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WIGHAM. A place-name, perhaps? The only known candidate is in Devon (Grid Ref. SS7508)
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WIGHTMAN. The strong one, from Old English with, “strong” + man. We have a William WIGHTMAN in Cumberland in the 14^thC.
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WILDE. Either a wild one, or a dweller in a wild place.
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WILKINSON. Son of WILKIN. WILECHIN is recorded in Northumberland in the 12^th C. The name itself is a diminutive of WILLIAM.
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WILLEY. A diminutive of WILLIAM, or maybe from the place-name Wylye, although that is not a Northern place-name.
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WILLIAMS, WILLIAMSON. WILLIAM’s servant or son.
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WILLIS. Yet another derivative from WILLIAM.
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WILLITON, WILTON.  If it’s the place-name then it’s from a long way away; all the candidates are in the South.
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WILLSON, WILSON. William’s son. A mining family of WILSONS in Washington/Haswell/Seaham areas from the early 1800's to the 20^th C provided three sons who were professional footballers in the 1920/30's (Huddersfield Town, Aston Villa and a third as yet unconfirmed)
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WINDALE.  Probably the same as WINDLE or WINDELL, deriving from “Windhul”, which appears in Lancashire and elsewhere in the 13^th C. It means the man from the Windy Hill. Funny how a hill can become a dale after a few transcriptions! (ONS)?
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WINSPEAR. Perhaps a nickname for a soldier whose weapon had been acquired from the spoils of a battlefield. Our WINSPEARs originated in Yorkshire but moved to Hartlepool to become shipbuilders.
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WINTER. Sometimes said to be a nickname for a miserable or chilly person. Much more acceptable, however, is a derivation from VINTNER. Cheers! For the record, MIDWINTER was probably given to someone born around Christmas or the Winter Solstice.
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WITHEROP, WITHERUP, WITHRUP, WOTHERUPPE. Current research traces most living lines in England back to William WITHERUP (misspelled as Wishenup in the 1851 census of Liverpool) born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There is, however, a probability that another Willam, christened in Fishburn, DUR in 1774 was his father. It could be that the family went to Ireland around 1800, say, but returned at the time of the Famine. Other similar names are recorded in Ireland in the mid 19^th. C., but the balance of probability favours an origin in the Sedgefield, DUR area.
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WITHY, WITTY, VITTY. Various possible sources. As “witty” it is sagacious or wise. As a variant of WHITEY it could be the white-eyed one or a dweller at the white enclosure. It could even be a weaver of willow-baskets.
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WOOD. A dweller in or near a wood. It might have been shortened from AtTwood at some time in the past.
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WOODMASS. A puzzle name and one of the factors that started this “names” project. There is a WUDEMUS in Derbyshire way back in 1188. It is said to mean Woodmouse, which stretches the imagination somewhat! There are mistranscriptions as WOODMAN in some records, as the words look the same in script. However, they sound so different that a permanent substitution is unlikely. In the IGI for our area, WOODMASS(E) and WOODMAN are both on record back to the late 16^th and early 17^th C while WOODMUS is rare.
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Searching for clues, the name MIDDLEMASS (q.v.) was found, where the –mass element means “mast”, an old, generic word with lots of derived meanings to do with fat and goodness. Specifically, mast can mean the nuts of various woodland trees, such as beech and oak, and it was long the custom to fatten pigs by pasturing them in the woods in the autumn, the activity being known as pannage. There is also a quotation in the Oxford English Dictionary suggesting that peasants collected the mast and brought it home. Although no quotation has been found containing the word “wood-mast” it is a small step to imagine that such a gatherer could acquire it as a surname. That’s best guess so far, anyway.
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WOODWARD. A guardian of the woods; a forester. See PARKER
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WOOLER. At least one 15^th C reference derives from the town (Landranger Sheet 75, Grid Ref NT994284) although the name can also arise from the occupation of wool-dresser.
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WOOLLATT.  Perhaps a variation of WOOLVETT which comes from “wolf-geat”. (geat = gate). This begs the question: What is a wolf-gate? In forest management, palisades separated parkland from open forest (see PARKER) and control gates allowed passage of game. So maybe they also kept the wolves out! The name could also be well-gate (gata); the path to the spring.
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WORKMAN. As well as the obvious meaning, there is an old reference suggesting that it might mean ambidextrous.
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WOTHERUPPE. See WITHEROP
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WRAY, WRY. A dweller in a remote place – Old Norse vra, or someone with a twisted body (as in awry, wry-neck, from Old and Middle English). The former derivation gives rise to several Cumbrian place-names, e.g. Wreay  (Grid Ref:NY435487)
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WRENN. A nickname deriving from the bird.
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WRIGGLESWORTH. (ONS). From Woodlesford in W Yorkshire, has previously been spelled Wrigglesworth. It probably means “the ford by the thicket” (Grid Ref:SE362290)
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WRIGHT. The name is usually said to mean carpenter or joiner, but can embrace almost any kind of maker or craftsman.
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WYNN. The same as GWINN or GWYNNE. “The fair (headed) one” from the Welsh gwyn.
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