Waring
A surname from the old Norman-French personal name Guarin/Warin, ultimately linked to an ancient Germanic name meaning roughly “protector” or “defender.”
The #7,671 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 71,304 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Waring is generally taken from the medieval personal name Warin or Guarin, brought into England by the Normans. The older Germanic root is usually explained from a word meaning “to protect” or “to guard,” though 19th-century scholars also debated related forms and spellings. In surname use, it began as a patronymic or family-name form meaning essentially “son or descendant of Warin.”
History
Medieval records show many spellings, including Warin, Warren, Wareing, and related forms, reflecting Norman and later English pronunciation changes. The name appears in English families of some standing, and one branch was long associated with Cheshire and later Ireland, according to older genealogical accounts. Bardsley and Harrison both note that it was one of the more common Norman-introduced personal names in English surname formation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname Mainwaring is historically connected with the same old Warin name through the place-name Mesnil-Warin, literally the “manor of Warin.”
From the historical record
“WAR IN l (A.-Fr.-Teut.) the French Warin, WARING J Guarin, Guerin, Gerin ('Chanson de Roland'), O.Teut.iri2>-m(o, Werin(o, found very commonly as a single name and also freq. in compound names like Warinbald, Warinbert, Warinfrid, Werinbald, Werin- hard, &c. Warino, Werin, Werina (f.), Werino, occur, e.g., in…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)