Family name origins & meanings
- English : habitational name, perhaps from Wanstead in Greater London (formerly Esses), recorded in Domesday Book as Wenesteda ‘site (Old English stede) by a mound (Old English wænn) or where wagons (Old English wǣn) are kept’, but more likely from Winestead in East Yorkshire, named from Old English wīf ‘wife’ or a female personal name Wīfa + stede ‘homestead’.