Names with Relationship "from surname"

Vaughan m Welsh, English
From a Welsh surname that was derived from bychan (mutated to fychan) meaning "little".

Vaughn m English
From a Welsh surname, a variant of Vaughan.

Vernon m English
From a Norman surname, which was from a French place name, ultimately derived from the Gaulish word vern meaning "alder".

Wade m English
From an English surname, either Wade 1 or Wade 2.

Waldo 1 m English
From a surname that was derived from the Anglo-Scandinavian given name Waltheof. Its present use in the English-speaking world is usually in honour of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American transcendentalist, poet and author. His name came from a surname from his father's side of the family.

Walker m English
From an English surname that referred to the medieval occupational of a walker, also known as a fuller. Walkers would tread on wet, unprocessed wool in order to clean and thicken it. The word ultimately derives from Old English wealcan "to walk".

Wallace m English, Scottish
From a Scottish and English surname that was derived from Norman French waleis meaning "foreigner, Celt, Welshman" (of Germanic origin). It was first used as a given name in honour of William Wallace, a Scottish hero who led the fight against the English in the 13th century.

Wallis m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was a variant of Wallace. Wallis Simpson (1895-1986) was the divorced woman whom Edward VIII married, which forced him to abdicate the British throne.

Walton m English
From a surname that was originally taken from various Old English place names meaning "stream town", "wood town", or "wall town".

Ward 1 m English
From an occupational surname for a watchman, derived from Old English weard "guard".

Warner m English
From a Norman surname that was derived from the given name Werner.

Warren m English
From an English surname that was derived either from Norman French warrene meaning "animal enclosure", or else from the town of La Varenne in Normandy. This name was borne by the American president Warren G. Harding (1865-1923).

Warrick m English (Rare)
From a surname that was a variant of Warwick.

Warwick m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from the name of a town in England, itself from Old English wer "weir, dam" and wic "settlement".

Washington m English
From a surname that was originally derived from the name of an English town, itself meaning "settlement belonging to Wassa's people". The given name is usually given in honour of George Washington (1732-1799), commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States.

Watson m English
From an English surname meaning "son of Wat". A famous fictional bearer of the surname was Dr. Watson, the assistant to Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan Doyle's mystery stories beginning in 1887.

Wayne m English
From an occupational surname meaning "wagon maker", derived from Old English wægn "wagon". Use of it as a given name can be partly attributed to the popularity of the actor John Wayne (1907-1979). Another famous bearer is Canadian hockey player Wayne Gretzky (1961-), generally considered the greatest player in the history of the sport.

Webster m English
From an occupational surname meaning "weaver", derived from Old English webba.

Wells m English
From an English surname that originally denoted a person who lived near a well or spring, from Middle English wille.

Wendell m English
From a German and Dutch surname that was derived from the given name Wendel. In America this name has been given in honour of the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894) and his son the Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935). The elder's middle name came from his mother's maiden name (which had been brought to America by a Dutch ancestor in the form Wendel, with the extra l added later).

Wesley m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself meaning "west meadow" from Old English west "west" and leah "woodland, clearing". It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.

Westley m English
From a surname that was a variant of Wesley.

Weston m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself from Old English west "west" and tun "enclosure, yard, town".

Whitney f & m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "white island" in Old English. Its popular use as a feminine name was initiated by actress Whitney Blake (1925-2002) in the 1960s, and further boosted in the 1980s by singer Whitney Houston (1963-2012).

Wilbur m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from the nickname Wildbor meaning "wild boar" in Middle English. This name was borne by Wilbur Wright (1867-1912), one half of the Wright brothers, who together invented the first successful airplane. Wright was named after the Methodist minister Wilbur Fisk (1792-1839). A famous fictional bearer is the main character (a pig) in the children's novel Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White.

Wilder m English
From an English surname meaning "wild, untamed, uncontrolled", from Old English wilde.

Wiley m English
From a surname that was derived from various English place names: towns named Willey or the River Wylye.

Wilkie m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from a diminutive of the given name William.

Willard m English
From an English surname that was derived from the Old German given name Willihard (or the Old English cognate Wilheard).

Willis m English
From an English surname that was derived from Will, a diminutive of William.

Wilmer m English, Spanish (Latin American)
From an English surname that was derived from the given name Wilmǣr. In some cases it might be regarded as a masculine form of Wilma. This name is popular in Spanish-speaking Latin America.

Wilson m English, Spanish (Latin American), Portuguese
From an English surname meaning "son of William". The surname was borne by Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the American president during World War I.

Wilton m English
From a surname that was derived from the names of several English towns. The town names mean variously "willow town", "well town" or "town on the River Wylye" in Old English. The river name is itself of Celtic origin, possibly meaning "tricky".

Windsor m & f English (Rare)
From an English surname that was from a place name meaning "riverbank with a windlass" in Old English (a windlass is a lifting apparatus). This has been the surname of the royal family of the United Kingdom since 1917.

Winfield m English
From a surname that originated from various English place names, themselves derived from Old English winn "meadow, pasture" and feld "field".

Winslow m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from an Old English place name meaning "hill belonging to Wine". A famous bearer of this name was American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910).

Winston m English
From an English surname that was derived from the Old English given name Wynnstan. A famous bearer was Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the British prime minister during World War II. This name was also borne by the fictional Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984.

Winthrop m English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally taken from town names meaning either "Wine's village" or "Wigmund's village" in Old English.

Winton m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "enclosure belonging to Wine" in Old English.

Wolfe m English (Rare)
Variant of Wolf, influenced by the spelling of the surname (which is also derived from the animal).

Woodrow m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English. It was borne by the American president Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), who was given his mother's maiden name as his middle name (his first name was Thomas). During his candidacy and presidency (1912-1921) the name became popular, reaching the 44th rank in 1913, though it quickly declined after that.

Wright m English
From an occupational surname meaning "craftsman", ultimately from Old English wyrhta. Famous bearers of the surname were the Wright brothers (Wilbur 1867-1912 and Orville 1871-1948), the inventors of the first successful airplane, and Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), an American architect.

Wyatt m English
From an English surname that was derived from the medieval given name Wyard or Wyot, from the Old English name Wigheard. Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) was an American lawman and gunfighter involved in the famous shootout at the OK Corral.

Wynne 2 m & f English (Rare)
From an English surname that was derived from the given name Wine.

Yancy m & f English
From a surname, which was an Americanized form of the Dutch surname Jansen meaning "Jan 1's son".

York m English
From an English surname that was derived from York, the name of a city in northern England. The city name was originally Eburacon, Latinized as Eboracum, meaning "yew" in Brythonic. In the Anglo-Saxon period it was corrupted to Eoforwic, as if from Old English eofor "boar" and wic "village". This was rendered as Jórvík by the Vikings and eventually reduced to York.