Wynne
A Welsh surname often understood as “white” or “fair,” and sometimes linked to the old personal name Gwynn.
The #3,686 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,038 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wynne is usually treated as a Welsh surname from gwyn, meaning “white,” “fair,” or “blessed,” originally a descriptive nickname. Older sources also connect it with the related Welsh forms Gwynne and Winn, and some writers extended the family name to Welsh ancestry lines rather than a single fixed source. A minority of historical discussion links the name to older personal-name material, but the Welsh “white/fair” explanation is the standard one.
History
Historical sources place bearers of the name in England by the 15th century, and later records show Wynne, Wynn, and Winn as related forms. Welsh families of the name were often traced to notable pedigree lines in early modern genealogies, which helped give the surname prestige. In modern usage it remains especially associated with Wales and Welsh-descended families, though it is also found more widely in the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some early genealogists even used Wynn, Wynn(e), and Winn as near-equivalents when recording Welsh families.
From the historical record
“WYNN \ _ wui„„/„ ri„ WYNNE } = ^'""(^' ''■''• WYNSER, like Winser, for Windsor, q.v. WYNTER = Winter, q.v. WYON = Quyon, q.v. WYSE = Wise, qv. WVTH^} = WltHe,q.v. YABSLEY (Eng.) Dweller at Yabb's or Yebb's Lea [Yehh, a Lane. dim. form of Edmund”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)