Origin
Wear : English (Northumbria):: 1: topographic name for someone who lived by the Wear river in northeastern England. The river name is ancient occuring in the form Vedra in Ptolemy's Geographia; it is probably from a Celtic word meaning ‘water’.2: topographic name for someone who lived near a dam or weir a variant of Ware 1 or a habitational name from a place called Weare in Devon and Somerset from Old English wær wer ‘weir’.
Ajala : West African (Nigeria): from the Yoruba personal name Àjàlá a praise name understood in Yoruba as meaning ‘one destined to fight and wear down his opponent’. The element à forms abstract nouns from verb phrases.
Bicker : 1: Dutch and German: occupational name for a stonemason or someone who used or made pickaxes or chisel from bicke ‘pickaxe chisel’ + the agent suffix -er. Compare Bick.2: English: occupational name for a beekeeper from Middle English biker beker (Old English bīcere bicere bēocere ‘one who keeps beehives a beekeeper’). Bees were important in medieval England because their honey provided the only means of sweetening food (sugar being a more recent importation); honey was also used in preserving.3: English: habitational name from Bicker in Lincolnshire or Byker in Tyne and Wear both named with the Old English preposition bī ‘by beside’ + Old Norse kjarr ‘wet ground brushwood’.
Bladen : English: habitational name from Bladon in Oxfordshire Bladon in Derbyshire or Blaydon in Tyne and Wear (formerly in County Durham). The first takes its name from a pre-English name (of uncertain origin and meaning) of the Evenlode river; the second is named with Old English blāw ‘cold’ + Old English dūn ‘hill’; the third is named with Old Norse blár ‘cold’ + Old English dūn ‘hill’.
Blakely : 1: English and Scottish: habitational name from Blackley north of Manchester in Lancashire or possibly in some instances from Blackley in Yorkshire from apparently a compound of Old English blæc + lēah ‘black clearing’. Some forms suggest the name may be derived from an unrecorded place in Bury or Prestwich called Blakelaw ‘black hill’ (Old English blæc ‘black’ + hlāw ‘hill’) or that Blackley was also known as Blakelaw. Confusion between -law and -ley is not uncommon. The surname was confused with (and may also be a source of) Blakey.2: English: habitational name from Blakeley Hall in Witton le Wear (County Durham) from Old English blæc ‘black’ + hlāw ‘hill’.3: English: habitational name probably from Blakeley in Staffordshire with the same etymology as 1 and 2 above.
Burden : English:: 1: (southern England of Norman origin): from a diminutive of the ancient Germanic personal name Burdo for which compare Burdett. Burdonus and other derivatives of the Gaulish personal name Burdo (‘mule’) are found in France where it is rare and the similar French surname may derive instead from Old French bourdon in the sense ‘pilgrim's staff’ (compare Bourdon 1). The personal name whether of ancient Germanic or Gaulish origin does occur in medieval England but rarely.2: habitational name from any of various places called Burdon or Burden. Burden in Yorkshire and Great Burdon in County Durham are named with Old English burh ‘stronghold fortified place’ + dūn ‘hill’; Burdon in Tyne and Wear is named with Old English b̄re ‘byre’ + denu ‘valley’.3: occupational name from Middle English bourethein ‘bower servant; chamberlain’ (Old English būrthegn).
Caruso : Italian: nickname from caruso ‘close-cropped’ (from Latin cariosus ‘decayed’ also ‘smooth bald’). This word was also used in the more general sense ‘boy lad’ since in the Middle Ages young men of fashion sometimes wore their hair much shorter than was the prevailing style. In the Girgenti area of Sicily the term was a metonymic occupational name for a worker in the sulfur pits since such workers were required to wear their hair short.
Colebank : English (Cumbria): habitational name possibly from either of two places called Coal Bank in Tyne and Wear and Durham.
Dowens : variant of Downes. Compare George Dowens 1611 George Downes 1614 in IGI (Witton le Wear Durham); Arthur Downs 1664 Arthur Downes 1667 George Dowens 1708 in IGI (Wem Shrops).
Galat : Polish: possibly a derivative of the Silesian dialect word galoty ‘trousers’ thus a nickname for someone who used to wear elegant trousers.
Hoezee : Dutch: variant of Hozee from a diminutive of Old French hose ‘stocking boot’ applied as a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such articles or possibly as a nickname for someone who wore flamboyant or otherwise remarkable leg wear.
Holycross : 1: Possibly an Americanized form (translation into English) of Italian Santa Croce Spanish Santa Cruz or some other southern European surname meaning ‘the Holy Cross’.2: Alternatively perhaps English: habitational name from any of a few places in England called Holy Cross (in County Durham Tyne and Wear Herefordshire). This surname is not found in Britain.
Hoodless : for someone who did not wear a hood Middle English hodless. Compare Hood.
Kardos : 1: Hungarian: derivative of kard ‘sword’ hence an occupational name for a warrior or a status name for a swordsman i.e. a nobleman who had the right to wear a sword.3: Jewish (from Hungary): adoption of the name in 1 above either as a Hungarian calque of the formerly used German-based surname or because the Hungarian surname (or word) has some sounds in common with the original surname.2: Slovak Czech Slovenian and Croatian (Kardoš): of Hungarian origin (see 1 above).
Longacre : English: topographic name from Middle English lang long ‘long’ + aker acre ‘piece of tilled land’ or a habitational name from any of various minor places so named such as Long Acre Farm Tyne and Wear or Long Acres Farm in North Yorkshire.
Pennywell : English: habitational name from Pennywell in Tyne and Wear or from a similarly named lost place elsewhere.
Silkworth : Possibly English: habitational name from Silksworth in Tyne and Wear (formerly in County Durham) named in Old English with the personal name Sigelāc + worth ‘enclosure’. However the surname does not appear in present-day English records.
Wadley : English: habitational name from numerous places. In southern England this can be derived from Wadley in Faringdon (Berkshire) or perhaps from Whatley (Somerset) Whateley in Kingsbury (Warwickshire) Wheatley (Oxfordshire) or Wheatley in Rayleigh (Essex) the latter of which often appears as Watelegh in the medieval records. The Berkshire placename derives from the Old English personal name Wada + Old English lēah ‘woodland clearing’. The other placenames derive from Old English hwǣte ‘wheat’ + lēah. Compare Wheatley. In some instances where the name originates from southeastern England Wadley may alternatively be a post-medieval variant of Wadlow. In northern England primarily Durham this is a habitational name from Wadley in Witton le Wear (Durham). The placename derives from the Old English personal name Wada Wadda + Old English lēah.
Wardle : English:: 2: habitational name from Wardle in Lancashire and possibly Wardle in Cheshire both named with Old English weard-hyll ‘watch hill’. Compare Warden 2 and Wardlaw.1: habitational name from Weardale (Durham) which takes its name from the river Wear (related to the Indo-European root wis- weis- ‘liquid flow’ or wedōr- ‘water’) + Old Norse dalr ‘valley’.
Ware : English:: 1: topographic name for someone who lived by or looked after a dam or weir on a river (from Old English wær wer Middle English war(e) warre wer(e) werre ‘weir’) or a habitational name from a place called with this word such as Weare (Somerset) Weare Giffard (Devon) or Ware (Hertfordshire).2: topographic name for someone who lived by a horse pond or fish pond from Anglo-Norman French Middle English wayour which became early modern English ware wear.3: nickname for a cautious person from Middle English war(e) ‘wary prudent’ also ‘wise skilful cunnning’ (Old English (ge)wær).4: (of Norman origin): variant of Warr.5: (of Flemish origin): nickname from Flemish De Weer from Middle Dutch we(d)er ‘wether ram’.
Wearmouth : English (northern): habitational name from Bishop Wearmouth or Monkwearmouth (Durham). The placename is from the river Wear (see Wear) + Old English mūtha ‘river mouth’.
Zierer : German:: 1: habitational name for someone from Zier near Düren. Compare Zier.2: nickname derived from Middle High German zieren ‘to decorate to embellish to glorify’ for someone who liked to wear fancy things.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England
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