Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : habitational name, perhaps from Wackland on the Isle of Wight (recorded in 1249 as Wakelande), which is named from an Old English wacu ‘watch’, ‘wake’ + land ‘cultivated land’, ‘estate’. The modern English surname, however, is found mainly in the north Midlands, which may point to another source, now lost.

Subscribe to Family Education

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe