Ridgway
A topographic surname for someone who lived by or traveled along a road over a ridge.
The #6,291 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,870 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ridgway comes from Old English elements meaning “ridge” and “way.” The literal sense is “the way over the ridge,” referring to a road, track, or route crossing higher ground. It is a classic topographic surname, originally used for someone who lived near such a feature or came from a place so named.
History
Historical surname dictionaries treat Ridgway as an English local or topographic name. It appears in older records with spellings such as Ridgeway, Rydgewaye, and Rudgway, reflecting the lack of fixed spelling before modern standardization. Related forms and place-names occur in several parts of England, and the surname has remained especially familiar in English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 19th-century source glosses the name very plainly as “the way over the ridge.”
From the historical record
“O.E. hrycg] RIDGEWAYl (Eng.) Dweller at the Ridge- RIDGWAY /Way iO. '&. hrycgweg] RIDGLEY (Eng.) Dweller at the Ridge-Lea [O.E. hrycgledh] RIDGMONT (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Bel. to Ridgmont (Beds, Yorks, Lanes, etc.) The Bedfordshire place app. owes its name to a Norman castle which was called Ruggemont, or Rougemont, from the”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)