Type Surname (from location)
Usage English
Meaning & History
Habitational name denoting someone from Mortlake, Surrey, or from Mortlach, Banff. Mortlake could mean either "Morta’s meadow", from the byname Morta and Old English lag "wet pasture, marshy field", or "salmon stream", from mort "young salmon" and lacu "stream, pool". Alternatively, it could mean "dead lake, stagnant pool" via French mort lac. Mortlach probably derived from Gaelic mór "big, great" and tulach "knoll, hillock".