Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • English : habitational name from Wansley in Devon, named with the Old English personal name Want + lēah ‘woodland clearing’, or from Hutton Wandesley in North Yorkshire, named with an unattested Old English personal name (Wand or Wandel) + lēah. The latter seems the more likely source, the surname having been concentrated in Lancashire in the late 19th century. Today there are few if any bearers of the surname in the U.K.