Wall
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.
The #631 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,739 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained as a topographic name from Old English weall, meaning a wall or rampart. In some dialectal and medieval English use, it may also have been influenced by a word for a well or spring, though the wall sense is the main one. It could also appear in older forms like atte Wall(e) or de la Wall(e), which point to someone living by a wall.
History
Medieval records show forms such as atte Wall(e) and de la Wall(e), which fits the common English pattern of surnames formed from where a person lived. The name remained in use independently of the pluralized form Walls, which some older writers treated as closely related. Because walls were prominent features of settlements, castles, and boundaries, the surname could arise in several places without a single family origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname collectors noted that Wall could sometimes be confused with or influenced by local forms referring to wells or springs, not just literal walls.
From the historical record
“q.v. [O.E. fem. agent, suff. -estre^ WALL (Eng.) Dweller at i a Wall [O.E. w(e)all (Lat. uall-um'] 2 a Well [M.E. and Dial. E. wall(e, a well or spring ; for M.E. well(e, O.E. welle, wiella, &c.] The surnames ' atte Wall(e,' ' de la Wall(e,' &e., are pretty common in our I3th-i4th cent, rolls.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)