Weathersby
A mainly English surname likely meaning “Wether’s farm” or “settlement,” from an old personal name or byname tied to a castrated ram.
The #8,570 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,319 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Weathersby is generally understood as a habitational surname built from an English place-name ending in -by, a Old Norse element meaning “farm,” “settlement,” or “village.” The first element is usually taken to be weather, more precisely an older form related to wether, meaning a castrated ram; in place-name use, that can point to a farm associated with sheep or a person named Wether. In short, the name likely began as “Wether’s farm” or “sheep farm.”
History
Surnames of this type were formed from places in northern England and later carried elsewhere by migration. The spelling Weathersby looks like an extended or respelled form of Weatherby, and such surnames often stabilized only after several centuries of variable spelling. In the United States, the name is now uncommon but established, especially in the South.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The final -by is a Norse place-name ending found in many English surnames and town names, especially across former Viking-settled regions.