WEATHERBY
The surname Weatherby is of English origin and is a locational name derived from the town of Wetherby in West Yorkshire.
The place name Wetherby is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wedrebi and is believed to stem from the Old English word wether, meaning a castrated ram, and the Old Norse suffix by, meaning a farm or settlement. Consequently one accepted interpretation of the surname is “sheep farm” or “ram’s settlement.” A different element that has appeared in the literature is the English word weather, meaning climate or atmospheric conditions; this has led to the suggestion that the name could also be understood as “dweller by a weather village.” Both derivations are cited in contemporary genealogical records, and the precise original sense cannot be asserted with absolute certainty.
As a result of variations in spelling, pronunciation and record‑keeping, the surname has appeared in several forms. Common spellings include Weatherby, Wetherby, Witherby, Weatherbee, Whitherby and Wytherby.
The earliest extant documentation of the name is found in the Poll Tax rolls of 1379, where a *Robertus de Wethirby* is recorded. This early use illustrates the convention of identifying individuals by the name of their place of origin once they had moved away from that place.
In the present day, the name remains most common within the United Kingdom, with notable concentrations around the cities of Leeds and Bradford in northern England. Across the Atlantic, the surname is also frequent in the United States, where it ranked 2,123rd in the 2010 census. At that time, more than 1·7 million people carried the name, with the highest concentrations in the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern regions of the country. While the total number of Weatherbys in the United States exceeds that of the United Kingdom, the UK still holds the majority of individuals who bear the name.
Historically, individuals bearing the surname have sometimes been linked to the British nobility or landed gentry. The survival of this association is evident in certain family lines that can trace their ancestry back to earlier noble or land‑holding counterparts. Nonetheless, the surname’s presence in many countries today reflects a broad diffusion that has occurred over many centuries.
Typical given names associated with the Weatherby surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- Darren
- David
- Ian
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Scott
- Stephen
Female
- Ann
- Anne
- Christine
- Emma
- Jane
- Jean
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Mary
- Pamela
- Rebecca
- Sarah
- Susan
- Teresa
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Weatherby in...
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There are approximately 612 people named Weatherby in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around nine in a million people in Britain are named Weatherby.
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Weatherby
- John Weatherby - Cricket player (1870 to 1948)
- Francis Weatherby - Cricket player (1885 to 1969)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.