Waddle
An English surname that likely began as a local name tied to Odell/Waddon, though some early writers also linked it to Wada and related place-name forms.
The #7,940 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 74,093 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as a habitational or local name, especially as a variant connected with Odell in Bedfordshire or with place-name forms built from the Old English personal name Wada. Some 19th-century sources also connect it with old spellings such as Wadhulle, suggesting a name tied to a hill or settlement associated with Wada. Because the historical evidence is mixed and the spellings vary, the exact line of descent is not fully certain.
History
Early records cited by surname dictionaries include forms such as Robert de Wadhulle in Bedfordshire in the 13th and 14th centuries. Later scholarship treated Waddle as a variant spelling related to Waddell and other local surnames, and one author noted that Waddle seems to have become especially established in America. The surname is uncommon but present in English-speaking countries today.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A 20th-century surname dictionary specifically noted Waddle as a natural variant of Waddell, and even remarked that it seemed to be especially confined to America.
From the historical record
“WADDELL \ (Eng.) i Dweller at Wada's Hill WADDLE ] [M.E. Wadhull{e, A.-Sax. *Wad- anhyll — Wadan- geuit. of Wada : v. under Wade'] Robert de Wadhulle.— Hund. Rolls (Beds). 2 the Domesday Wadel, A.-Sax. Wadel [v. under Wade', and-f- the E. dim. suff. -el\”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)