Winfield
A surname that usually comes from a place name meaning “Wine’s field” or from Wingfield, with some uncertainty in the oldest forms.
The #4,318 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,515 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Winfield is generally treated as a locational surname. In the sources, it is linked either to a place called Wingfield or to an English place-name built from Old English feld, meaning “field” or “open country,” with an uncertain first element. That first element may come from an old personal name such as Wine or Wina, or from another Old English word, so the exact original sense is not fully settled.
History
The name appears in medieval records in forms such as de Winfeld, showing its use as a surname of origin from an actual place. Later writers note that Winfield can be a Derbyshire form of Wingfield, and some sources explicitly say it is probably the same surname. The modern spelling is now established as a family name in Britain and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A famous modern bearer was General Winfield Scott, whose first name helped make Winfield familiar outside surname use as well.
From the historical record
“Thomas de AA''ynnefertbyn. H.R. WINFIELD. Probably the same as AVingfield. WING. Parishes in the shires of Buck- ingham and Eutlaud. WINGATE. A cliapelry in co. Dur- ham. AA^INGET. See AVingate. WINGFIELD. "The AA^ingfields of”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom