Chadwick
A Lancashire place-name surname meaning “the dairy farm or settlement at Chadwyke,” later spread widely from northern England.
The #2,222 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,809 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Chadwick is a locational surname from Chadwyke, a hamlet in Rochdale, Lancashire. The name is usually explained from Old English elements: the first element is a personal name, Chad or Chadda, and the second is wic, meaning a dairy farm, settlement, or dependent farmstead. Older writers sometimes described it more loosely as “the cottage by the harbor,” but that looks like a confused or oversimplified explanation for this English place-name.
History
The surname is recorded in northern England and was especially common in Lancashire, where the place itself gave rise to the family name. Bardsley notes that it was widespread in Lancashire and had already crossed the Atlantic by the early modern period. The name also appears in many spellings in historical records, including Chadwyke and Chatwick.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Woulfe-style and Bardsley-style surname books often cite Chadwick as a classic example of a local Lancashire surname that became unusually widespread.
From the historical record
“CHADWELL. A parish in Essex. CHADWICK. Chadwyke, a hamlet in the parish of Rochdale, the property of the family in the XIV. cent. CHADWIN. An ancient personal name. CHAFF. Probably from Fr. chauve, bald. CHAFFER. See Chaffers. CHAFFERS. This name is believed by”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom