Whipple

Etymology

This surname is usually explained as a locational name from places in England such as Whimple in Devon or Whipphill/Whiphill, with the second element being Old English hyll, meaning 'hill.' The place-name element before it is less certain, but older scholarship often treated the surname as a reduced or altered form of Whimple. Some 19th-century writers also proposed a connection with an old personal name, so the exact origin is not completely settled.

History

The name is found in medieval and later English records in forms close to Whimple, Whipell, and Whipple, especially in Devon and surrounding areas. It later spread more widely in England and then to North America, where it became best known as a family name rather than a place-name derivative. Because the spelling has been unstable in early sources, some writers treated Whipple as a modified local surname and others as an independent development.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Early surname dictionaries disagree on whether Whipple is really from a place-name or from an old personal name, which makes it a good example of how slippery medieval spellings can be.