Surnames starting with W

A German surname meaning “watchman” or “guard,” from an occupational word for someone who keeps watch.

A Germanic surname meaning “watchful,” “alert,” or “brave.”

Likely a habitational surname meaning “dweller near Wada’s hill,” with Scots and English forms related to Wade/Wadd.

An English surname that likely began as a local name tied to Odell/Waddon, though some early writers also linked it to Wada and related place-name forms.

An old English surname that may mean a ford or crossing place, but it also became linked to a legendary hero named Wade.

A habitational surname from places named with an old personal name plus “lea,” meaning “Wada’s meadow.”

A habitational surname meaning “Wade’s estate,” originally from Wadsworth in Yorkshire.

An English surname most likely meaning someone connected with wages, hiring, or paid service.

A surname most likely from an old nickname or occupational form connected with weighing or balancing something.

A surname probably referring to someone connected with wages or paid labor, rather than a single fixed occupation.

An occupational surname for someone who drove or managed a wagon—literally a wagoner or carter.

An occupational surname meaning “wagon maker” or “cartwright,” especially associated with German origin.

An occupational surname for a wagon driver or carter.

A German surname most likely from a byname meaning “choice” or “election,” though some older writers also linked it to an ancient Germanic personal name.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely a Germanic or Scottish form related to the old word for “power” or a local/regional family name.

An occupational surname for a maker of wagons or carts.

An old English surname from a word meaning a watchman or night guard.

A surname that likely began as a nickname or occupational byname connected with waiting or attendance, and in some cases may simply reflect the more common surname Waiter with an added -s.

A patronymic surname meaning “Waite’s son” or “descendant of Waite.”

A surname from an old word for a watchman or night guard—literally someone who keeps watch.

A locational surname meaning “from Wakefield,” the Yorkshire town whose name likely meant a soft or wet field.

A place-based surname meaning “from Walcott/Walcot,” taken from several English villages and manors.

A Polish surname meaning “son of Walcz” or, more broadly, someone descended from a man named Walcz.

A surname with two common roots: either “wood” or the older Germanic idea of “power” or “rule.”

A surname usually taken from places named Walden, meaning a valley with a wood or forest.

A surname built on the Germanic word for “man,” often treated as a simple old German name element rather than a nickname or occupation.

A surname that likely began as a short form of old Germanic names built on the element meaning “rule” or “power,” though it was also linked by some writers to Scandinavian Valdi.

A surname that most likely began as a place-name, probably meaning someone from a wooded or walled settlement.

An English surname that most likely began as a shortened form of the medieval personal name Waleran, though some sources also connect it with a Sussex place-name.

An English-origin surname most likely built from a place name meaning “wooded valley” or “forest by a stream.”

A surname for someone from Wales, or from a place in England called Wales.

An English surname that was probably a nickname for a slow or awkward walker, though some bearers may also descend from fuller forms like Walklin or local names.

An English surname most often meaning a cloth fuller—someone who thickened and cleansed woolen fabric.

A surname most often used for someone who lived by a wall or embankment, and sometimes by a well or spring in older dialect use.

A surname usually explained as meaning “Welshman” or “foreigner,” especially in Scotland and northern England.

A surname of debated origin, most likely from a medieval personal name related to Walwyn/Walter or from an old term for a Walloon or foreigner.

An English surname that could mean either a wall-builder or, in some places, a salt-boiler.

A mainly English surname that usually points to a place name, especially Whalley or a “dweller by the wall/embankment.”

A surname usually explained as a shortened form of Walter or a related nickname-based form.

Most likely a medieval pet-name surname from Walter, though some writers also linked it to Wallingford and other place-names.

An old ethnic surname meaning “Welshman” or, more broadly, “foreigner.”

A surname that usually meant someone who lived by a wall or fortification, or sometimes descended from the old personal name Wall.

An Irish and English surname meaning “Welshman” or “a person from Wales.”

A surname probably tied to a place-name, most likely meaning someone from a settlement or estate called Walston.

A classic Germanic personal name meaning “powerful army,” later adopted as a surname and parent to many common English name forms.

A patronymic surname meaning “son of Walter,” from the medieval given name Walter.

A Germanic surname from the old personal name Walter, meaning roughly “army ruler” or “powerful warrior.”

A surname most likely built from the given name Walt, meaning “Walt’s man” or “servant/associate of Walt.”

A common English surname from many places called Walton, meaning a farmstead or settlement by a wall, woodland, or enclosure.

A surname that may come from several similar-sounding European place-name or nickname forms, with some later association to the dance word in English usage.

A surname with several possible European origins, most often treated as a shortened or altered form of Wallace/Wallis or a place-name from Valais or Wiltz.

A surname most likely of German origin, probably built from a personal name or occupational nickname rather than a place name.

A surname usually understood as a place-based name, likely pointing to a settlement or landscape feature called Wamsley or something similar.

An English surname that may be a shortened or altered form of an older personal name, though its history is not securely established.

A surname with several independent origins, most famously a Chinese family name and also an old English/German word-based place-name surname meaning “field” or “meadow.”

A surname that may come from a Germanic personal name beginning with Wan-, though some historical sources also treated it as a variant or shortened form of related names.

An old English surname meaning a guard, watchman, or keeper.

Wardell is usually a variant of Wardle, ultimately tied to a ward or warden—someone who guards or watches.

A surname that can point to a guardian or to someone from one of several places called Warden.

A Scottish locational surname meaning “dweller by the watch-hill” or “guard hill.”

An English surname that can point either to someone from Ware in Hertfordshire or to a person who lived by a weir or dam.

A surname that likely began as a place-name meaning “battlefield” or “war field,” though in some local records it is tied to a Norse place-name on the Isle of Man.

A surname most likely of Central or Eastern European origin, probably a shortened or adapted form of a Slavic personal name.

A surname from the old Norman-French personal name Guarin/Warin, ultimately linked to an ancient Germanic name meaning roughly “protector” or “defender.”

Usually from an old personal name, though in some cases it may have been influenced by the word warrener, a keeper of game.

A surname most likely tied to the old personal name Warin or Warn, with forms influenced by English and Germanic diminutive endings.

A surname that likely grew from the same Germanic root as Warren and Warner, with a diminutive ending added in medieval form.

A name that most likely began as a local surname for someone living by a weir or similar water barrier.

A Norman surname from a place-name and the word for a game preserve or enclosed hunting ground.

An English surname usually taken as a spelling variant of Warwick, the place-name and later family name.

A habitational surname meaning “from Warrington,” originally taken from the Lancashire place name.

A surname taken from the English place-name Warwick, originally meaning the settlement or fortified place by the weir or river camp.

A rare surname that most likely began as a nickname for someone connected with washing or laundering, though some examples may also be shortened from a place-name or longer surname.

A habitational surname meaning “wash stream” or “washing brook,” originally from a place-name in England.

A habitational surname from English place-names called Washington, best known through the family of George Washington.

A surname meaning “water man,” used for someone associated with water, waterways, or water work.

A surname that is likely a variant spelling of a place-based or nickname surname built on an older personal name or word stem beginning with Wass-.

A common Japanese surname meaning roughly “beside the crossing” or “at the ferry landing.”

A locational English surname meaning someone who lived at or near a house by the water.

An English surname that usually meant a boatman, ferryman, or carrier of water.

Usually a surname from a place by water, though some historical writers also linked it to Walter and its variants.

A habitational surname for someone from Watford, especially the Hertfordshire town, literally “wattle-ford” or “hurdle-ford.”

An old surname probably derived from a personal name, ultimately connected with the Germanic name element found in forms like Walthen/Walen.

A Welsh-style patronymic meaning “son of Watkin,” with Watkin itself a pet form of Walter.

A classic patronymic surname meaning “son of Watt,” with Watt serving as a medieval pet form of Walter.

A chiefly English and Scottish surname from the medieval pet form Wat, short for Walter; in some families, it was later reinforced by spellings from place-names like Wath.

A surname usually treated as a variant of Waters, and in some cases as a form of Walter or Watt.

A surname meaning “Walter’s son,” with Watterson as a variant spelling of Waterson.

A patronymic surname meaning “son of Watt,” with Watt itself a medieval pet form of Walter.

A surname most often explained as a Scottish Border name meaning “dweller by a wall.”

A surname most often from a road, path, or place by the way.

Likely a surname formed from an old personal name such as Wymond, later reshaped into a familiar-looking "-man" form.

A surname often treated as a short form or spelling variant of Waine, probably tied to a wain or wagon.

An English surname most likely from Weekley, the village in Northamptonshire, rather than from the adjective “weak.”

A surname most likely taken from a place by a weir or from the River Wear in northeastern England.

A locational surname probably referring to someone from a ford known for weather exposure or a place called Weatherford.

An English surname probably built from the word “weather,” likely as a nickname or place-name form, though the exact origin is not certain.

A surname that most likely began as a locational name or as a weather-related nickname, with some uncertainty in the historical record.

A mainly English surname likely meaning “Wether’s farm” or “settlement,” from an old personal name or byname tied to a castrated ram.

A surname most likely from the older form Wetherspoon, probably a nickname or occupational name linked to a “wether” and a spoon-maker or spoon-carrier in some local tradition.

An occupational surname meaning “weaver,” originally given to someone who made cloth.

An occupational surname for a weaver of cloth, from the Old English word for a web-maker.

An English occupational surname meaning “weaver,” essentially a native form of Weber.

A classic German occupational surname meaning “weaver.”

An occupational surname meaning “weaver,” originally from a feminine Old English term for a woman who wove cloth.

A northern English surname most likely from a reduced form of Tweed-dale or a related local place-name.

An English surname that may come from a place-name, but in older scholarship it was also linked to words for a ford or a weed-like plant.

A English surname usually from one of the places called Weedon, meaning “weedy hill” or “hill where weeds grow.”

A local surname from Weekley in Northamptonshire, England, referring to someone who came from that village.

An English surname usually derived from a place-name, especially one of several places called Week or Weeke.

A Scottish surname probably tied to the place-name Wemyss, ultimately meaning a cave or hollow.

A surname that may be a shortened or altered Germanic name, and in some cases an English spelling variant of Wees/Weise-type forms.

A German occupational surname, generally linked to the maker of wagons or carts.

A German surname that likely began as a short form or nickname, though the exact source is not fully certain.

A surname of Chinese origin, most often representing the Mandarin family name Wei.

A surname of German origin, most likely meaning someone who lived by a wide or open place, or a variant of a related German name.

A German surname that can point to someone associated with pasture or, in older usage, to a hunter or forest worker.

A German surname meaning “warrior” or “hero,” from an old Germanic word for fighting prowess.

A German surname that may be a pet form of a name beginning with Wig-, though some sources also treat it as a local name.

A surname that in German usually points to a place-name meaning “village” or “hamlet.”

An old Germanic personal name, later also reinterpreted in some places as a “meadow land” surname.

A German surname meaning someone from a small settlement or hamlet.

A German surname that may point to the place name Weimar or to an older personal name source.

A German surname meaning “vineyard” or “wine hill,” originally used for someone living by such a place.

A German surname meaning someone from a wine-growing place or a vineyard hillside.

A surname of several possible origins, most often linked to German/Jewish naming from the word for “wine” or to the German place-name element Wien (“Vienna”).

A German surname meaning “vine-stone” or “rock by the vineyard,” usually understood as a topographic or ornamental name.

A German and Ashkenazi Jewish surname built from words for “wine” and “grape,” likely referring to a place sign, vineyard, or related house name.

A surname usually meaning someone who lived by a weir or dam on a river.

A surname most often linked to the German word for “white,” and sometimes to the idea of someone clever or wise.

A German surname that most often began as a nickname for a wise or prudent person, and sometimes reflects the common German word *weise* meaning “wise.”

A German surname most often from a word meaning “wise,” though in some cases it may reflect an older personal name or nickname for a prudent person.

A surname of German origin, most likely meaning “wise man.”

A German surname meaning “white,” usually from a nickname for a fair-haired or pale person.

A German surname meaning “white man” or “fair-haired man,” built from the word for white plus “man.”

A German surname most likely formed from a diminutive of a name beginning with Weitz-, probably linked to a personal name or nickname rather than an occupation.

A surname usually traced to English place-names such as Welbourn, Welburn, or Welbourne.

A surname meaning “Welshman,” often used as an ethnic label for someone from Wales or of Welsh descent.

A primarily English surname from places called Weldon, most likely meaning “spring hill.”

A surname of German origin, most likely connected with the old word for a fuller or wool-worker.

A common English surname meaning someone who lived by a well or spring.

A mostly English surname that usually points to someone from the village of Welling in Kent, though some writers also treated it as a patronymic from an old personal name.

A locational surname from English places called Wellington, ultimately meaning “the estate or settlement of Wela’s people.”

Usually a topographic surname meaning “man by the well,” though some early sources also treated it as an occupational name.

A surname for someone who lived by a well or spring, or who came from one of the English places named Wells.

A surname for someone of Welsh origin, or one that developed from the ethnic label "Welsh" itself.

A surname with Germanic roots, probably from a personal name such as Walter or a related form.

A habitational surname meaning someone from a place called Welton, originally “the farmstead by the spring.”

Welty is most likely a Germanic surname that developed as a shortened or altered form of a personal name such as Walti or Walther-type names.

A short surname that can be English, Scandinavian, or Chinese in origin, with different roots depending on the family line.

A German and broader European surname ultimately tied to the old name Wendel, often linked by early scholars to the Vandals or to a root meaning “turn” or “change.”

A surname that may have begun as a Dutch word for “walker” or as a local name tied to a place near the River Wandle.

A locational surname meaning “from Wendling,” a parish in Norfolk, England.

A German surname from the old name for a Slavic or Wends-related people, later used widely as a family name.

A surname most often of Chinese origin, usually representing a family name spelled Weng in modern romanization.

A German and Swiss surname that likely began as a short form of a name containing the element for “desire” or “joy,” though some forms may also be linked to place-names.

An English place-name surname meaning “Winta’s estate” or, more simply, a farmstead or settlement associated with a man named Winta.

A German surname most likely shortened from a name beginning with Wend- or Wenz-, often tied to a personal name or regional form.

A German surname, usually treated as a form of Wenzel, ultimately from the Slavic name Václav/Wenceslaus, meaning “more glory.”

A German and Central European surname from the Slavic given name Wenceslas/Wenzel, meaning roughly “greater glory” or “more glory.”

A German surname from an old personal name meaning “army protector” or “true army man.”

A short surname that is usually best treated as a spelling variant or clipped form rather than a clearly established standalone name.

A German surname usually linked to a place name or the old word for a river island, meadow, or enclosed land near water.

A surname usually treated as a variant of Wert, likely a German short form or nickname-based name.

A Somerset and southwest English surname meaning “west cottage” or “west farmstead,” from a place name such as Westcott/Westcote.

A surname usually understood as a place-name, meaning someone from Westley or a similar “western meadow” place.

A surname with several possible origins, most likely from a Germanic personal name or from place-names such as Wesel.

A surname that likely began as a place-name form, especially linked to Wesel in Germany or Vesoul in France.

Likely a shortened or altered form of Weston, ultimately meaning “from the west.”

A surname for someone who lived to the west or came from the western side of a place.

A place-based surname meaning “one who lived by the western brook.”

A habitational surname meaning someone from a west cottage or a place named Westcott.

A place-based surname meaning “from the west” or “from the western place.”

A surname built from the elements “west” and “field,” likely referring to someone from or near a western field or settlement.

An English surname meaning “western man,” originally used for someone from the west or who had come from the western side.

A surname likely built from the element west plus a place-name ending, probably originally pointing to someone from a western place or field.

A regional surname taken from the historic English county of Westmorland, meaning someone from that northern district.

A common English locational surname meaning someone from the west town or western farmstead.

A habitational surname meaning someone who lived by or came from a western bank, shore, or edge.

A German surname meaning “someone from Westphalia.”

An English-style surname that likely began as a place-based name meaning “the settlement associated with Wetha or Wæth,” though its exact origin is uncertain.

A German surname most often understood as a short form of an old personal name, especially Werner or related Germanic names.

A surname of Jewish origin, often from an occupational name for a moneychanger or from a related Yiddish/German trade term.

An English nickname surname for someone thought to be bulky or whale-like in build, ultimately from Old English words for “whale.”

A surname usually taken from a place name, especially Whalley or Whaley in northern England.

A surname from English place names meaning a farmstead by a hollow or basin.

A locational surname from English place-names meaning “wheat field” or something similar.

A surname usually understood as a nickname for someone fair or pale, or as a short form of a place-based name tied to wheat fields.

A place-based English surname meaning someone from a wheat field or wheat meadow.

A place-based surname meaning “from the wheat enclosure” or “from Wheaton,” a place name built from Old English words for wheat and farm/settlement.

An occupational surname for a wheelwright—someone who made or repaired wheels and carts.

A Cheshire surname taken from the township of Wheelock, most likely meaning a settlement by a white enclosure or fort.

An Irish surname, most often taken as an anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Faoláin / Ó Faoilain, related to the personal name meaning “wolf.”

A locational surname from places called Whetstone, likely meaning “white stone” or “stone castle.”

An English surname that likely began as a local name, especially from places called Whimple or Whipphill, though some early writers also linked it to old personal names.

A surname probably from a Germanic personal name, later reshaped in English spelling in the American South.

A surname of uncertain origin, most likely a later spelling of a place-name or nickname-based form that settled into a distinctive Southern U.S. family name.

A habitational surname meaning someone from a place called Whitacre, likely “white acre” or “white field.”

An English habitational surname meaning someone who lived by a white acre or white field.

A locational surname meaning “white valley” or “white hollow,” from an English place-name built on Old English and Celtic roots.

A very common surname that began as a nickname for someone with a fair or pale complexion, and sometimes for a person linked to the color white.

An English surname likely from the nickname or descriptive adjective “white,” with the -ed form suggesting a later family-name shaping rather than a classic medieval byname.

A surname that usually began as a nickname for a person with white or fair hair, though in some cases it may point to a place or field-name.

A habitational surname meaning someone who lived by or at a white house.

A habitational surname meaning someone who lived by a “white wood” or pale wooded hill.

A locational surname meaning “dweller by the white meadow.”

Usually a nickname for a fair or pale man, though it can also be a variant of Wightman.

An occupational surname for a whitener or bleacher of cloth, especially linen.

An English habitational-style surname probably meaning “white hall” or something similarly bright or pale in appearance.

A topographic surname for someone who lived by the white side of a hill, field, wood, or similar place.

A locational surname meaning “from the white field,” or in some cases “from Wheatfield.”

A locational surname meaning “dweller by the white ford.”

An English surname usually derived from White, originally a nickname or byname for someone fair-haired or light-complexioned.

A locational surname meaning “from the white clearing” or “white meadow,” taken from several English places named Whitley.

Usually an English nickname surname for someone with white hair or a distinctive white lock.

An English habitational surname meaning someone who lived by a white hill or mound.

Usually an English nickname surname meaning “white man,” though some sources also connect it with the older personal name Wightman.

A surname most likely built from the color term white and an old personal or place-name element, giving it the feel of an English descriptive surname.

An English habitational surname, probably meaning “white moor” or “white marsh.”

A locational surname meaning “dweller by the white moor” or, less likely, “white mere.”

An English habitational surname from Whitney in Herefordshire, likely meaning “Hwita’s island” or a white/bright river islet.

A surname that usually means “White’s son,” though in some cases it may have referred to someone born on Whitsunday.

A short surname that likely began as a nickname or place-based name, and may be connected to an old word for white or a white-haired person.

An English place-based surname, most often explained as meaning someone from a “white acre” or a similarly named field or settlement.

A surname most likely from a nickname or descriptive byname based on “white,” suggesting someone with pale hair, fair coloring, or a light-colored mark.

An English surname that is a spelling variant of Whitmore, most likely meaning a person from a place called Whitmore or 'white moor.'

Usually a shortened form of Whitten/Whitton-type place names or a regional spelling of the Whitton surname.

A habitational surname from English place-names meaning “the estate or town of the white/fair people,” especially Whittington in several counties.

A mainly English locational surname from places called Whittle, probably meaning “white hill” or “white nook/corner.”

A surname usually taken from one of several English places named for a “white farm” or, less often, “Hwita’s farm.”

A habitational surname meaning “white farmstead,” from places named Whitworth in England.

A spelling variant of White, usually a nickname for someone fair-haired or light-complexioned.

A common English surname from places called Wick, meaning a village, settlement, or similar inhabited place.

A surname that most likely began as a place-name or nickname, and was later linked by some writers to the Old English word for a wizard.

A habitational surname from any of several English places called Wickham, meaning a village or dwelling near a wick or settlement.

An English surname that may mean “man of the camp” or arise from an old personal name like Wigman.

A surname with two main roots: either “son of Wick/Wicke” or a short form linked to William.

An old Germanic surname meaning “broad man” or “famous man,” with close relatives in Widmann and Widmer.

A surname most likely from a German name such as Weidner/Waidner, probably tied to meadow or pasture terminology.

A surname with both English and German roots, often explained as a place-name or as a worker on church land.

An old surname that may derive from a place name or a descriptive Old English word, though its exact origin is uncertain.

A Frisian and Low German surname from an old personal name, originally tied to early Germanic name forms like Wibo or Wippo.

A Polish surname from a word for “evening,” often originally a nickname for someone connected with the late day or with evening birth or work.

A German surname formed from an old personal name, originally meaning something like “war-brave” or “battle-strength.”

A German surname from an old personal name, originally linked to the legendary smith Wayland.

A surname for someone from Vienna, literally meaning “a person from Vienna.”

A German surname meaning “meadow” or “pasture,” usually from a place-name or a home near open grassland.

A German surname, most likely from a place-name or a nickname based on a German word for a meadow or waste land.

A surname most often understood as meaning “Wiggin’s son,” with some families also linked to the place-name Wigan.

A surname most likely meaning “son of Wigg,” with Wigg itself probably a short form of an old personal name related to war or strength.

An old nickname surname meaning “strong” or “swift,” from an Old English/Old Norse word for an active, capable person.

A surname meaning “man associated with Wight,” or possibly a nickname built from the older word wight meaning a person.

A surname that likely began as a place-based name for someone living by, or near, a bank or field associated with a man named Will.

An old surname usually explained as meaning “pleasant bower” or, in some cases, as a short form of Germanic names beginning with Wil- (“desire,” “will”).

Likely a spelling variant of an old place-based surname, probably tied to English local names such as Welborne or Welford.

An English surname that may come from the old personal name Wilburh/Wilburg, though some 19th-century writers also linked it to “wild boar.”

A surname that likely began as a personal-name form, probably built from old Germanic elements meaning “will” and “fortress” or “protection.”

A surname most likely built from a medieval personal name, with roots in old Germanic naming traditions.

A surname built from William plus a diminutive ending, originally meaning “little Will” or “Will’s son.”

A surname that usually began as a nickname for someone seen as wild, fierce, or uncultivated.

Usually a nickname for someone seen as “wild” or untamed, though in some cases it may point to a place-name meaning “forest” or “wilderness.”

Usually an English surname from the old personal name Wealdhere, though it could also be a nickname or descriptive name linked with “wild.”

A straightforward nickname surname meaning “wild man,” or in some cases a way of describing someone as untamed or rustic.

A surname with several possible origins, most often explained as a nickname from “wily” or as a shortened form of an older name like Wild or Wills.

A surname with more than one possible origin, most often treated as a form of Wylie or as a name linked to places called Wil(e)y/Wyly.

A rare surname with an uncertain origin, often explained in older sources as a folk-etymological name built from “wil” and “fong,” though that reading is not secure.

A Germanic personal name meaning “resolute helmet,” later used as a surname.

A likely English surname that began as a local or descriptive name, later stabilized in American spelling as Wilhite.

A surname that likely began as a short form of William or another medieval name beginning with Wil-.

A surname with Germanic roots, often a short form of names built on the old name element meaning “will” or “desire.”

A surname most often explained as a short form of William, with the ending -ken marking “little” or “son of.”

A surname built from the old Germanic personal name Wilken, itself a diminutive of William.

An English and Scottish surname that usually began as a patronymic meaning “son of Wilkin,” a pet form of William.

An English surname that usually began as a shortened, familiar form of William, often through the pet form Wilkin.

A surname most likely built from a medieval personal name with the familiar English -ey/-y ending, rather than from a place or trade.

A Scottish and English surname meaning “little Will,” from the name William.

A patronymic surname meaning “son or descendant of Wilkin,” with Wilkin itself a medieval pet form of William.

A classic English patronymic surname meaning “son of Wilkin,” with Wilkin itself coming from William.

Usually a shortened patronymic meaning “son of Wilk/Wilkin,” ultimately from William.

An English surname that usually began as a pet form of William, though it can also come from the old Anglo-Saxon personal name Willa.

A surname from an old Germanic personal name meaning “resolutely brave” or “strong in will,” later also explained as “son of Willihard.”

A surname that most often began as a short form of William or a related Germanic name.

A surname that usually began as a medieval pet form of William, with the ending -ett marking a diminutive.

A surname most likely formed as a French diminutive of William or another Will- name, suggesting “little Will” or “descendant of Will.”

Usually an English surname from a place-name, though in some cases it may also mean “son of Will.”

An English surname most likely built from the given name Will, with the ending -hite reflecting a later spelling variant rather than a separate root.

A patronymic surname from the personal name William, ultimately meaning “resolute protector.”

A classic patronymic surname meaning “son of William,” and one of the most common names in Wales and the English-speaking world.

A classic patronymic surname meaning “son of William.”

A surname from the pet form of William, built with the familiar Scots and northern English diminutive -ie.

A surname usually tied to an English place name, with Williford likely a regional spelling of Wilford or a related local form.

A surname taken from places called Willingham, especially in eastern England, meaning the home or estate of the Wifel family.

A classic English surname most often from the given name William, though some families may have taken it from place names or related forms.

Usually an old English name meaning “beloved man,” though some later writers also explain it as “man of will” or treat it as a surname from a personal name.

A habitational surname from English place-names meaning “willow farm” or “willow village.”

Usually a patronymic surname meaning “son of Will,” with some historical overlap from place-name forms linked to wells.

A spelling variant of Wilson meaning “son of Will,” with Will being a short form of William.

A surname most likely from William, originally a pet form meaning “little William” or “William’s son.”

A surname that likely began as a medieval personal-name surname, ultimately from the old Germanic name William.

A classic patronymic surname meaning “son of Will,” with Will being a short form of William.

A surname most likely from a medieval short form of William, though in some cases it may also reflect the place-name Wiltshire or a similar local association.

An English surname that most likely began as a place-based name, later settling into the familiar spelling Wimberly.

A surname with Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon roots, often treated as a variant of Wymer or Wymar, meaning something like "famous in battle."

A German surname most often explained as a form of Widmer, linked to church land or church property.

A surname probably from a medieval personal name, later fixed in English-speaking families as Winans.

A surname probably linked to the place-name Winchester, though its exact path is not fully certain.

A surname taken from the city of Winchester, England, originally meaning a Roman-British “market fort” or “fort by the fair.”

A surname that usually points either to someone from a place called Winder or Windermere, or to an occupational name for a thread winder/twister.

A locational surname from an English place-name, probably meaning “the homestead by a winding path” or “Wimund’s home.”

A locational surname meaning “from Windsor,” the famous Berkshire town, probably from an old name for the Thames bank or shore there.

A rare surname that may come from a medieval personal name element meaning “friend,” rather than from the drink itself.

A surname that may have begun as a nickname or as a shortened form of a place-name, but its exact origin is uncertain.

A surname that usually comes from a place name meaning “Wine’s field” or from Wingfield, with some uncertainty in the oldest forms.

A surname from the old personal name Winefrith, meaning roughly “friend of peace” or “friend of victory,” depending on how the first element is interpreted.

Usually a habitational surname from places named Wing, likely referring to a flat plain or field.

A surname most likely built from an old personal name, probably meaning “son or descendant of Winga/Win-” with a later spelling influenced by English forms.

An English surname usually taken from a place-name meaning “wind gate” or “winding gate,” especially in Durham and nearby counties.

A surname that likely began as an old English personal name meaning roughly “friendly spear” or “protecting spear.”

A German surname linked to a vineyard or wine-growing place.

A locational surname from English places named Wingfield, meaning a field or open land associated with a person named Wing or with a similar old English place-name element.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably an English family name that later became established in the United States.

A German surname meaning a person from a corner, bend, or nook, or someone from a place named Winkel.

A surname usually tied to someone who lived by a corner, nook, or secluded bend in the landscape.

A German surname meaning someone who lived by a corner, nook, or small shop-stall.

An English and Welsh surname with several possible roots, including the Old English name Wine and the Welsh word for “white” or “fair.”

A surname that can come from an ancestor’s job as a winnower or, in some cases, from an old personal name meaning “joyful army-man.”

An English habitational surname from places called Winslow, probably meaning either “wine’s hill” or a “burial mound/hill.”

A surname most likely formed from a place name meaning “Wine’s homestead” or “pleasant homestead.”

Usually an English surname from place names meaning “Wine’s town” or from an old personal name.

A surname from the season name “winter,” often originally given as a medieval nickname or birth-season name.

Usually a patronymic surname meaning “Winter’s (son)” or, in some cases, a name for someone associated with winter or a winter dwelling.

A surname usually from a place-name, especially one of several English townships called Winton.

A German surname meaning “innkeeper” or “host,” from the common word for a landlord or tavern keeper.

A German surname often explained as a short form of Wirth, meaning an innkeeper or host.

An English surname from the word “wisdom,” originally a nickname for a wise or learned person, and also associated with a Devon place-name.

A surname meaning “wise,” originally a nickname for a sagacious or learned person.

A nickname surname for a person thought wise or learned, and sometimes for one who played the part of a wizard or sage.

An English surname most likely based on the old word for a wise or prudent person.

A German surname most likely meaning “meadow dweller” or “one from a meadow place,” though some older sources interpreted it differently.

A surname most likely from a Middle English word for a witch or enchantress, though some early references may also reflect spelling variation from other names.

A locational surname meaning “from Witham,” named for places in Essex, Lincolnshire, or Somerset.

A surname that most likely began as a patronymic, meaning “son of Wither” or “son of Wider.”

An English and Scottish surname usually explained as a variant of Wotherspoon, itself most often treated as a place-based name of uncertain local origin.

An English surname of uncertain origin, most likely built from an old place-name or descriptive phrase beginning with “with-.”

A Polish surname meaning “from Witków” or “belonging to Witko,” pointing to a place-name or an old personal name.

A German surname likely built from a Germanic root for “wood” or “forest,” though older sources also suggest a nickname-style interpretation.

A surname that can come either from the Old English personal name Witta, meaning a wise man or counselor, or from a nickname for someone fair or white-haired.

A surname from a nickname for a white-haired or fair person, or from an old word meaning “wise” or “witty.”

A surname with more than one possible root, most often explained as meaning “wise” or “prudent,” though some sources also link it to craft-based or Germanic name forms.

A surname usually understood as “wise man” or “man of wit,” though some forms may also be Germanic nickname developments.

A Polish surname meaning “from the cherry tree” or “from the cherry grove.”

A surname most likely from an old English place-name, later reshaped in spelling over time.

A Polish surname meaning “of Wojciech,” originally pointing to a son or descendant of a man named Wojciech.

An English surname most often explained as meaning “the cottage by the wall” or “the fortified cottage,” from place-name roots.

A surname for someone who lived by an open, treeless hill or upland ridge.

A surname from the Germanic word for the wolf, often used as a byname or old personal name.

A surname usually from the animal name wolf, often first given as a nickname for fierceness or ferocity.

A common surname from the word for “wolf,” sometimes a nickname or an old personal name, and in some families a later continental import.

An English locational surname meaning “from Wolford,” a place-name likely referring to a wolf-haunted riverbank or shore.

A patronymic surname meaning “son of Wolf,” ultimately from the old Germanic personal name Wolf.

A Germanic surname from the old personal name Walter, often used as a patronymic meaning "son of Walter."

A German and Dutch surname meaning “Walter’s son” or “descendant of Walter.”

A locational surname from places named Wolverton, meaning the estate or farm of an early Anglo-Saxon wolf-named settler or family.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably tied to a place-name with the sense of a hollow or low-lying oak-land, though older writers also guessed at an Old English personal-name source.

A surname of uncertain origin, probably a regional or nickname-based English family name that became established in the British Isles and later in the United States.

A short surname with several possible roots, most often treated as an ethnic or transliterated East Asian name in modern use.

An English surname from a word meaning “meadow” or “field.”

A surname that can be English in origin, but is also especially common in Chinese romanization, where it represents several different Chinese surnames.

A very common English surname meaning someone who lived by, or near, a wood or forest.

A surname usually meaning “the person from the wood hall” or a place named Woodhall.

A surname with several possible roots, most often explained as a form of Woodward or as an old personal name linked to the Norman/Wadard tradition.

A locational surname meaning “from Woodbury,” a place-name describing a stronghold or settlement by the wood.

A surname that began as a nickname or place-name, originally tied to the woodcock bird or to someone thought birdlike or simple-minded.

A surname likely tied to wood, timber, or a place associated with wooden features, though the exact origin is not securely established.

A place-based surname meaning “dweller by the ford near the wood.”

A topographic surname for someone who lived by a house near the woods, with a secondary possibility of connection to the old “wood-man” folk character.

A locational surname for someone who came from, or lived by, a woodland or wooded place.

A habitational surname meaning someone from a wood clearing or from one of several English places called Woodley/Woodleigh.

An English surname meaning either a woodcutter/forester or, in some cases, a descendant of an old personal name built from “wood.”

A surname probably born from an Old English-style place-name meaning a wooded belt or strip of woods.

An English surname originally referring to a wood-reeve, a forester or bailiff in charge of woodland.

An English-language surname most likely formed from a place name or topographic term involving a wood and a rough clearing, ridge, or stream-edge settlement.

A common English surname meaning someone who lived by or in the woods, or was identified as "of Wood."

A habitational surname for someone who lived beside a wood or wooded area.

An English surname usually understood as “son of Wood,” though some sources also connect it to the old personal name Wudda.

An occupational surname for a forest keeper or wood-warden.

An English habitational surname meaning someone who lived by a wooded farmstead or enclosure.

A surname that likely began as a descriptive or locational name for someone living near a woody place or woodland.

Usually a spelling variant of Woollard, a surname that likely began as a nickname or an altered form of a similar English name.

An English surname that most likely began as a nickname or altered form linked to the old personal name Wulfric, though some writers also explained it as a place-name form.

A mostly locational surname, originally from places called Woolley or Wooley, likely meaning “wolf clearing” or “wolf meadow.”

A surname usually meaning “wolf,” with some later bearers connected to Continental Germanic spelling forms.

An English surname probably from an old Germanic personal name, later reshaped in spelling by folk-etymology.

A mostly English place-name surname that likely means “wolf clearing” or “Wolf’s meadow.”

A surname with several possible roots, most likely a place-name linked to “wold” or a wool-related nickname or occupational name.

A likely English surname that began as a place-name spelling variant, most probably meaning someone from or near a “wooded” or “WOOD” place.

An English habitational surname, originally used for someone from a place called Wootton, meaning “wood farm” or “farmstead in the wood.”

An English surname that likely began as a nickname or descriptive byname from the everyday word “word,” though its exact origin is not firmly established.

A surname with several possible roots, most often treated as a variant of Warden, though some Cornish sources give it a local place-name origin.

An English surname that likely began as a place-based name for someone living by a fortification or defended work.

An occupational surname for a laborer or skilled artisan.

An English surname most likely taken from a place name, with early forms linked to Warley, Wortley, or similar localities.

A mostly English surname usually linked to places named Worrall or Wirral, with some uncertainty in the older scholarship.

An English surname most likely from a place name, probably meaning “person from Worsham.”

A surname that usually began as a place-name, meaning someone who lived by a farmstead, enclosure, or river bank.

A locational surname meaning “from Wortham,” most likely the Suffolk place-name.

Worthen is most likely a place-based English surname, probably originally meaning someone from or near a rough, scrubby, or coarse patch of land.

A habitational surname meaning someone from Worthington, originally a place-name tied to an early English family or settlement.

A name that usually began as a place-name surname, though it could also suggest someone esteemed or honorable.

Probably a variant of Worthman, a surname built from “worth,” meaning an enclosed homestead or estate.

A Polish surname meaning a wagoner or cart driver.

A northern English surname most often linked to a place-name meaning a nook, corner, or sheltered bend.

A surname that may come from the bird’s name as a nickname, though some 19th-century writers also linked it to Rennes in Brittany.

Usually a nickname from the bird name, given to someone thought small, lively, or quick; some older writers also suggested a connection with Rennes in Brittany.

An occupational surname for a worker or craftsman, especially a carpenter or builder.

A Polish surname from the word for a sparrow, likely first used as a nickname.

A Polish surname meaning “from the place of sparrows” or, more broadly, from a place named Wróblew/Wróblewo.

A common Chinese surname, usually written 吴/吳, with ancient roots and several possible historical origins.

A surname from the old Germanic word for “wolf,” sometimes also shortened from older names beginning with Wulf- or Ulf-.

A German surname meaning “strange” or “wonderful,” originally used as a descriptive nickname.

A surname most likely formed as a variant of the given name Wyatt, ultimately from an old English personal-name tradition.

A surname from a medieval French diminutive of Guy, essentially meaning “little Guy.”

A surname from a place by a salt spring or salt-work, especially in the English Midlands.

A Dutch place-based surname likely meaning someone from a village or farm called Wijk or Wyck.

A surname with more than one likely origin: often a nickname for a crafty or tricky person, but sometimes a later spelling of Wiley or a local surname form.

Usually a medieval personal-name surname, from an old English given name meaning roughly “warrior-man,” though some forms may also reflect Wymond.

A Welsh surname often linked to the nickname Gwyn or Gwynn, meaning “white” or “fair.”

A Welsh surname often understood as “white” or “fair,” and sometimes linked to the old personal name Gwynn.

A surname that likely began as a spelling variant of an older Germanic or English name, rather than as a distinct occupational label.

A Polish surname meaning someone from a high place or village on a hill.

A Polish surname built from a nickname for a small bird, often understood as a wren or similar bird, and by extension a lively or nimble person.