Willingham
A surname taken from places called Willingham, especially in eastern England, meaning the home or estate of the Wifel family.
The #2,814 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 24,087 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This name is locational, from one or more English places called Willingham. Harrison explains it as Old English elements meaning roughly “the home or estate of the Wifel family,” with the place-name built from a personal or family name plus the Old English settlement suffix -ham. The first element is connected with an older family name, and the name therefore points to someone who came from one of these settlements rather than to a descriptive trait.
History
The surname appears in records attached to people from Willingham in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and other counties. Because several English villages share the name, the surname could arise independently in different families. The name is well established in England and later carried to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Domesday Book records an early form of the Cambridgeshire place as Wivelingeham, showing how old the name is.
From the historical record
“[v. WilP, and + the O.E. fil. suff. -ing\ WILLINGHAM ( Eng. ) Bel. to Willingham (several) [O.E. hdm, home, estate : for the first elem. V. under Wlllington] One of the Line, places was Willing- ham A.D. 1317-18. The Domesday form, Wivelingeham, of theCamb. parish points to an A.-Sax. *Wifelinga-hdm = the Home or…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)