WICKES
Wickes is a surname of English origin, deriving from the Old English pre‑7th century word wic, which denotes a dairy farm or settlement. The term was later borrowed from Latin wicus and came to be used as a place‑name suffix in medieval England, signalling a village or farm, often associated with the dairy industry.
The name is primarily topographical, given to those who lived or worked at a wic. It may also have become an occupational identifier, signifying a person engaged in farming, dairy or cottage agriculture. The addition of the suffix -es is conjectured to represent a Middle English phonetic change, producing the modern form Wickes.
Recorded spellings are many: Week, Weeke, Wick, Wike, Wix, Wyke and the patronymics Weekes, Weekson, Wickson, Wixon. Medieval scribes frequently wrote names according to their own phonetic interpretations, which explains the variety of extant forms.
The earliest documented use of the surname appears in the pipe rolls of 1084, where Alueredus de Uuica is recorded in Somerset. Subsequent mentions include Goscelin del Wich (1184, Worcestershire) and Jordan de la Wike (1194, Gloucestershire). By the 16th and 17th centuries there are additional attestations: Nicholas Wixon witnessed a christening in St Botolphs Bishopgate, London, on 21 April 1577, and Symon Weeks of Devonshire emigrated to the Caribbean in February 1634, leaving London for St Christopher’s in the Barbados Islands.
The surname finds particular concentration in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Lancashire, where early bearers were noted for farming, glove making, weaving and other trades. The term Wickes was also a recognised label for modest dwellings supplied to the poor or travellers, often situated adjacent to churches; this implied a community centre or roadside cottage.
In the modern era the name persists in the UK alongside diaspora communities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The distribution reflects historical migration patterns and the continued, though somewhat reduced, popularity of the surname. The connection to its Anglo‑Saxon roots remains evident in the continued use of the name in English‑speaking countries, preserving its historical significance as a marker of occupational and locational heritage.
Typical given names associated with the Wickes surname
Male
- Alan
- Darren
- David
- Ian
- James
- John
- Martin
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Simon
- Stephen
Female
- Angela
- Claire
- Helen
- Jane
- Janet
- Kelly
- Lisa
- Meena
- Michelle
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Pauline
- Sarah
- Susan
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 Wickes in...
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Morse
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There are approximately 795 people named Wickes in the UK. That makes it roughly the 8,813th most common surname in Britain. Around 12 in a million people in Britain are named Wickes.
