WINFIELD
Winfield is a surname of English provenance, belonging to the broader family of locational names that derive from the geography of the British Isles. Its element in Old English, win, denotes a companion or friend, while feld signifies an open field or meadow, together suggesting the literal sense of “friend of the field” or “companion of the field.”
In addition to the spelling Winfield, the name is frequently seen as Wingfield. Both forms arise from place‑names in Bedfordshire, Derbyshire and Suffolk that were recorded in the early medieval period. The variety of spellings reflects the fluidity of orthography before the standardisation of English spelling in later centuries.
Wingfield in Bedfordshire is first noted as Winfeld in about 1200; the first element may stem either from the Old English wince, meaning a reel or pulley, or from a bird name derived from hleap wince, the lapwing, combined with feld meadow. In North Derbyshire the surname was recorded as Wynnefeld in 1002 and is understood to mean a meadow or grazing ground, again using winn for meadow and feld for field. The Suffolk place yielded the spelling Wingefeld round 1035, a name interpreted as “feld of the people of Wiga” or possibly a derivative of weoh, meaning pagan temple, combined with field.
The earliest attested legal document containing the surname is the Curia Regis Roll of 1228, which enumerates Nicholas de Wynefeld during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272). Subsequent clerical records offer further evidence of the two spellings: Dorothy Winfield was christened on the 25th of February 1637 at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, and John Wingfield was christened on the 15th of July 1804 at St. James, Clerkenwell; both infant baptisms took place in the city of London.
Following the Norman Conquest, the name appears in various parish registers and will‑and‑testament records scattered across the counties of Suffolk, Derbyshire and Bedfordshire, indicating a modest but persistent presence. The concentration of the surname in these eastern and northern counties reflects its locational origins and the fact that, unlike some more widespread English surnames, Winfield remained largely confined to the areas surrounding its cradle places.
Today, the name is relatively uncommon in the United Kingdom, with the majority of its bearers retaining the traditional spelling Winfield, though a few maintain the historic variant Wingfield. The surname, through its etymology and recorded history, offers a tangible link to the medieval landscape of the English countryside and to the pastoral life that shaped the identities of rural communities in the late Middle Ages and early modern period.
Typical given names associated with the Winfield surname
Male
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Simon
- Stephen
Female
- Deborah
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jane
- Jennifer
- Karen
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Nicola
- Patricia
- 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 Winfield in...
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There are approximately 5,893 people named Winfield in the UK. That makes it roughly the 1,611th most common surname in Britain. Around 90 in a million people in Britain are named Winfield.
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Winfield
- Dave Winfield - Football player
- Mervyn Winfield - Cricketer (1933 to 2014)
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.