Wendling
A locational surname meaning “from Wendling,” a parish in Norfolk, England.
The #8,536 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 80,090 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wendling is a habitational surname from Wendling in Norfolk. The place-name is explained in the old sources as deriving from an Anglo-Saxon form meaning the people or estate of the Wendel family, with the suffix -ingas referring to a group or clan. In other words, the name originally meant something like “the settlement of Wendel’s descendants.”
History
Medieval records show early bearers such as William de Wendling in the 12th and 13th centuries, which fits the usual English pattern of people taking their surname from their home parish. The name remained relatively uncommon and appears in later genealogical and surname lists as a local Norfolk name. Modern bearers in the United States likely descend from later English or immigrant lines rather than from a large, separate naming tradition.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Norfolk place-name behind Wendling is old enough to have been analyzed as an Anglo-Saxon clan name, not just a village label.
From the historical record
“WENDLIN "1 (Eng.) Bel. to Wendling (Norf.), WENDLING I 13th cent. Wendling, A.-Sax. *Wend(e)lingas (dat. Wend(e)lingum) = (the Estate of the) Wendel Family [v. under Wend', and -|- the pi., -ingas, of the O.E. ' son ' suff. -ing'\ Abbas de Wendlyng. —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)