Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name from Walmersley in Greater Manchester, which according to Ekwall is named from Old English wald ‘forest’ + mere ‘lake’ or (ge)mǣre ‘boundary’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. However, it is perhaps more plausibly from the genitive case of an Old English personal name Walhmǣr, meaning ‘foreign-famous’, or Waldmǣr ‘rule-famous’ + Old English lēah.