Weddle
A northern English surname most likely from a reduced form of Tweed-dale or a related local place-name.
The #5,522 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 49,038 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually treated as a shortened northern form connected with Tweed-dale, the valley of the River Tweed. In older spellings and related surnames, the first element points to the river name Tweed, while the second is dale, meaning valley. Some 19th-century writers also linked Weddle with a local place-name such as Wedhill/Wedhull, but the stronger historical explanation is the northern locational development.
History
Historical surname writers place Weddle chiefly in Northumberland and Durham, with the form also appearing in adjacent northern areas. It seems to be part of a cluster of surnames that were reduced and reshaped from place-names in everyday speech, alongside forms like Tweddle and Tweedle. The name later spread more widely in England and to the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname studies noted Weddle as a Northumbrian name and grouped it with Tweddle and Tweedle as related reduced forms.
From the historical record
“WEDDELL ) (Eng.y i the A.-Sax. pers. name WEDDLE } Wedel.Wadel: v.VJsiddleW WEDELL ) 2 = Weedall, Weedell, q.v. WEDDERBURN (Scot.-Eng.) Bel. to Wedder- burn = the Wether-Brook [Scot, wedder, O.E.we^er=0.^.ue/Sr(Da.n.-NoTw.vader), a wether, ram -|- burn, O.E. bums, a stream] WEDDERSPOON, v. Wetherspoon.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)