View Message

Whybrow is one of the many spellings of your name, and I'm guessing it might be pronounced to rhyme with eyebrow. Reaney and Wilson list 17 spellings of this name, including Whybro, in their dictionary, where they explain the name as a metronym, i.e., the name of a female ancestor. This lady had the Old English and not very feminine name of Wigburh, meaning "war fortress". They further state that the given name was " ... recorded once in 901 and then not until the 12th century. In view of the variety and frequency of the surnames it must have been more common than the records suggest."