Widner
An old surname that may derive from a place name or a descriptive Old English word, though its exact origin is uncertain.
The #8,299 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,341 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The 19th-century note you provided links Widner with an Old English-looking form meaning something like “grass refuge,” but that explanation is tentative and not widely established. More generally, Widner may be related to older English place-name or descriptive forms beginning with wid- (“wide” or “wood/withy” in some old spellings), but the surviving evidence is not decisive. The surname should therefore be treated as uncertain in origin rather than assigned a single firm derivation.
History
Widner is found in English-speaking records and later in the United States, where it survives as a relatively uncommon surname. The spelling may also reflect later variation from related forms such as Widener or other similar-looking names. Because the historical evidence is thin, its exact pathway into modern use is not clear.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The old dictionary excerpt you supplied treats Widner as a “cognate term” of Widener, showing how easily surname spellings were linked or conflated in early scholarship.
From the historical record
“Widener. Wid, grass ; nere, a refuge. A grass-refuge. Widner, a cognate term. ^ Widger. Wicg, a horse, a steed ; ere, an agent. A horse- man ; a warrior. Widley. Wid, wide ; lie, like. Widely.”
— Family Names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch