sponinsanity's Personal Name List

Derived from the Old English given name Ealdwine.

Patronymic from the Middle English forename Alder, derived from two Old English names, Ealdhere ‘ancient army’ and Æðelhere ‘noble army’. Means "son of Aldert".

Variant of Allerston, a habitational surname derived from a place so named in North Yorkshire.

Derived from the given name Adalhard (or the Old English cognate Æðelræd).

Means (i) "person from Alloway, Alloa or Alva", the name of various places in Scotland ("rocky plain"); or (ii) from the medieval male personal name Ailwi (from Old English Æthelwīg, literally "noble battle").

From the Late Latin name Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name Αμβροσιος (Ambrosios) meaning "immortal".

From a Dutch surname that means "son of Aris 2". In The Netherlands, this name is never used as a first name, since Dutch law strictly prohibits the use of surnames as first names. Therefore, if this name is indeed sometimes used as a first name in the United States (where it *is* allowed to use surnames as first names), one should classify Arisen as an (American-)English first name.

This surname is derived from Old English æsc & land and it means "ash tree land."

From a place name meaning "east town" in Old English.

From a place name meaning "Ealdgyð's clearing" in Old English.

From Middle English aueril, Old French avrill meaning "April", perhaps indicating a person who was baptized in that month.

Habitational name from any of various places in France named Beauregard for their fine view or fine aspect, for example in Ain, Dordogne, Drôme, Lot, and Puy-de-Dôme, from beau "fair, lovely" and regard "aspect, outlook".

From Old French bel ami meaning "beautiful friend".

Means "beautiful rose" in French.

From the name of a city in Lancashire, meaning "black stream" in Old English.

Derived from the given name Blaise.

Originally indicated someone from the town of Blidworth in Nottinghamshire, which was derived from the Old English byname Blīþa (meaning "happy, blithe") combined with worð "enclosure".

Occupational name meaning "maker of boats".

Means "brass worker", derived from Old English bræs "brass".

From a place name, which is derived from Old English meaning "settlement by a steep path".

Originally indicated someone from Brackenrig in Lanarkshire, derived from northern Middle English braken meaning "bracken" (via Old Norse brækni) and rigg meaning "ridge" (via Old Norse hryggr).

Variant of Callahan.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ceallacháin meaning "descendant of Cellachán".

Originally a name for someone from Cantrell in Devon, from an unknown first element and Old English hyll meaning "hill".

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cearmada meaning "descendant of Cearmaid", a Gaelic given name.

From Irish Ó Caiside meaning "descendant of Caiside". Caiside is a given name meaning "curly haired".

Catalan cognate of Castle.

From Middle English castel meaning "castle", from Late Latin castellum, originally indicating a person who lived near a castle.

Indicated a person who lived near a causeway, from Old French caucie.

Occupational name for one who looked after the inner rooms of a mansion, from Norman French chambrelain.

From a nickname for a lucky person or a gambler.

Occupational name for an administrator, a chancellor, from Norman French chancelier.

Occupational name meaning "candle seller" or "candle maker" in Middle English, ultimately derived from Latin candela via Old French.

Means "cart" in Old French, used to denote a carter or a cartwright.

From Middle English clos meaning "enclosure", a topographic name for someone who lived near a courtyard or farmyard.

Nickname derived from Italian corvo meaning "crow".

Derived from Middle English cotter meaning "cottager", referring to a small tenant farmer.

Means "person from Daventry", Northamptonshire ("Dafa's tree"). The place-name is traditionally pronounced "daintry".

From Old English dæl meaning "valley", originally indicating a person who lived there.

An English surname probably derived from the French de la mare, meaning "of the sea", though some contend that "mare" springs from the English word moor. This surname probably arose after the Norman conquest of Britain.

Meant "person from Dallaway", West Midlands (perhaps from a Norman personal name, "person from (de) Alluyes", northern France). A fictional bearer of the surname is Mrs Dalloway, central figure of the eponymous novel (1925) by Virginia Woolf.

Originally denoted a Dane, that is a person from Denmark.

From Old English Dearthington believed to be the settlement of Deornoth's people (unclear root + ing a family group + ton an enclosed farm or homestead).

English (of Norman origin) habitational name, with fused French preposition d(e), for someone from Hauterive in Orne, France, named from Old French haute rive ‘high bank’ (Latin alta ripa).

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Díomasaigh meaning "descendant of Díomasach", a given name meaning "proud".

Means "from the hillside", from French coteau "hillside".

Means "from Isigny", referring to the town of Isigny in Normandy. This surname was borne by the American animator and filmmaker Walt Disney (1901-1966).

Means "from Orsay", referring to the town of Orsay near Paris, its name deriving from the Latin personal name Orcius.

Derived from the Old Norse byname Draki or the Old English byname Draca both meaning "dragon", both via Latin from Greek δράκων (drakon) meaning "dragon, serpent".

Derived from the given name Elijah, or sometimes Elisedd.

Patronymic form of the English name Ellis, from the medieval given name Elis, a vernacular form of Elijah.

Variant of Ellison.

Derived from the given names Ælfwine, Æðelwine or Ealdwine.

Means "son of Emery". The surname was borne by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American writer and philosopher who wrote about transcendentalism.

Topographic name derived from Old English meaning "from the end cottage".

Americanized form of Espensen.

Derived from the feminine given name Eoforhild.

Means "beautiful child" in Middle English and Scots.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of fallow land, Middle English falwe (Old English f(e)alg). This word was used to denote both land left uncultivated for a time to recover its fertility and land recently brought into cultivation.
The name is also borne by Ashkenazic Jews, as an Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

From the Irish Ó Fionnáin meaning "descendant of Fionn".

Occupational name meaning "keeper of falcons", from Middle English and Scots faulcon, from Late Latin falco, of Germanic origin.

Possibly indicated a person from the town of Faverges in eastern France, derived from Old French faverge meaning "forge".

From a name for someone who dwelt near a marsh, from Old English fenn meaning "fen, swamp, bog".

From Irish Ó Flannagáin meaning "descendant of Flannagán". Flannagán is a given name meaning "blood red". From County Roscommon in Ireland, it has many other spellings.

Occupational name for a fletcher, someone who attached feathers to the shaft of an arrow. It is derived from Old French fleche meaning "arrow".

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Floinn meaning "descendant of Flann".

Derived from Old French fontane meaning "well, fountain", a derivative of Latin fons.

Name given to someone who lived by a ford, possibly the official who maintained it. A famous bearer was the American industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947).

Variant of Ford. This is a very common spelling in Ireland.

Name for someone who lived near ferns, from Old High German farn "fern".

Variant of Fosse.

From the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.

Occupational name derived either from Old French jauge "measure" (a name for an assayer) or gage "pledge, payment" (a name for a moneylender). Both words were ultimately of Frankish origin.

Occupational surname for one who was a gardener, from Old French jardin meaning "garden" (of Frankish origin).

Variant of Gardener.

Variant of Gardener.

Variant of Gardener.

Variant of Garnett 1 or Garnett 2.

From the given name Gerard.

From the French given name Germain.

Means "glass worker, glazier", from Old English glæs meaning "glass".

Means "farm bailiff" from Old French grangier, ultimately from Latin granum meaning "grain". It is borne in the Harry Potter novels by Harry's friend Hermione Granger.

From a nickname for a person who had grey hair or grey clothes.

Derived from Old English halh meaning "nook, recess, hollow".

Originally belonged to a person who played the harp or who made harps.

From various place names meaning "fenced wood" in Old English.

English: occupational name for a brothelkeeper; originally a feminine form of Hollier.

From Irish Mac Aodhagáin meaning "descendant of Aodhagán". The given name Aodhagán is a double diminutive of Aodh.

From the name of various places in Scotland and northern England, derived from Scottish Gaelic cnoc "round hill".

Means "landowner" in Scots, derived from northern Middle English laverd "lord", from Old English hlafweard.

Originally designated one who lived by a lane, a narrow way between fences or hedges, later used of any narrow pathway, including one between houses in a town.

Derived from a French word meaning "wool", designating one who worked in the wool trade.

From Irish Ó Luain meaning "descendant of Luan", a given name meaning "warrior".

From any of the various places with this name, all derived from Old English lang "long" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Variant of Lennon.

English habitational name from either of two places in West Yorkshire called Lindley, or from Linley in Shropshire and Wiltshire, all named from Old English lin ‘flax’ + leah ‘wood’, ‘glade’, with epenthetic -d-, or from another Lindley in West Yorkshire (near Otley), named in Old English as ‘lime wood’, from lind ‘lime tree’ + leah ‘woodland clearing’. Lindley in Leicestershire probably also has this origin, and is a further possible source of the surname.
German: habitational name from places in Bavaria and Hannover called Lindloh, meaning ‘lime grove’, or a topographic name with the same meaning (see Linde + Loh).

From an English place name meaning "enclosed wood".

From various place names in the Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch loh meaning "meadow, clearing".

From a medieval nickname for a woman-chaser or lothario (from Old English lufulēas, literally "without love", hence "fancy-free"). The English poet Richard Lovelace (1618-1657) was a famous bearer.

Variant of Lowell.

From a nickname derived from a Norman French lou meaning "wolf" and a diminutive suffix.

From a diminutive of the given name Laurence 1.

Derived from the given name Lucas. A famous bearer of this surname is George Lucas (1944-), the creator of the Star Wars movies.

Possibly from the place name Leask in Aberdeenshire, of unknown meaning.

Variant of Linwood.

Originally denoted a person from the city of Lyon in central France, originally Latin Lugdunum, of Gaulish origin meaning "hill fort of Lugus". It could also denote a person from the small town of Lyons-la-Forêt in Normandy.

Anglicized form of Gaelic MacGriogair meaning "son of Gregor". It originates from the Highland clan Gregor. A famous bearer was the Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor (1671-1734).

Possibly a variant of McGowan or McGovern.

From Old French maloret meaning "unfortunate, unlucky", a term introduced to England by the Normans.

Occupational name for a stoneworker or layer of bricks, from Old French masson, of Frankish origin (akin to Old English macian "to make").

Variant of Meyer 1.

Occupational name for a mayor, from Middle English mair, derived via Old French from Latin maior.

From Gaelic Mac Giolla Fhaoláin meaning "son of the servant of Faolán".

French form of Merlo.

Derived from the given name Muriel.

From Middle High German meier meaning "bailiff, administrator", derived from Latin maior meaning "greater". Later it also denoted a tenant farmer. The spellings Meier and Meyer are more common in northern Germany while Maier and Mayer are more common in southern Germany.

Variant of Millward.

Occupational surname meaning "miller", referring to a person who owned or worked in a grain mill, derived from Middle English mille "mill".

Anglicized form of the Irish Ó Maolagáin meaning "descendant of Maolagán", a given name derived from maol meaning "bald" or "tonsured".

Means "guardian of the mill" in Old English.

Variant of O'Mooney.

From Irish Ó Muircheartach meaning "descendant of Muirchertach". This was the surname given by Arthur Conan Doyle to a master criminal in the Sherlock Holmes series.

From the name of a minor place in the West Midlands.

From a place name meaning "Margaret's clearing".

Means "person from Nairn", Highland region ("(place at the mouth of the river) Nairn", a Celtic river-name perhaps meaning "penetrating one").

From English ness and Norwegian nes meaning "headland, promontory", of Old Norse origin, originally referring to a person who lived there.

Variant of Neville.

This surname is thought to be derived from nore which could mean "shore, cliff." This could denote that someone might have lived in a shore or cliff. It may also be used as a surname for someone who lived in the now 'diminished' village of Nore in Surrey.

Irish: variant of Nolan.
French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements not ‘need’ + land ‘land’.

Derived from Swedish nord meaning "north" (Old Norse norðr).

Combination of Swedish nord "north" or nor "small strait" and the common surname suffix -ell.

Referred to a person who was originally from Scandinavia or Normandy. Even before the Norman Conquest, Scandinavians were settling the north and east of England. The Normans who participated in the Conquest were originally from Scandinavia, but had been living in Normandy, France for over a century and spoke French.

A locational surname from the Germanic (Old English/Old Norse) term for the north. It either refers to someone who lived in a location called Northwell, lived north of a well, spring or stream (Old English weall). The -ell could also be from the Latin prefix -elius, meaning "origin". Therefore this surname could mean "of the North", or "from the North Well".

The surname appears in the records in England going back to the middle of the 1500's (mostly in the county of Sussex) and also from the same period in Sweden (see Norell).

Norrington is the name given to a person from the eponymous place.

From the name of various towns in England meaning "north town" in Old English.

Originally taken from a place name meaning "north wood" in Old English.

Variant of Noel.

Originally denoted a person who was from Odell in Bedfordshire, derived from Old English wad "woad" (a plant that produces a blue dye) and hyll "hill".

Derived from the given name Oliver.

Derived from the given name Olivier.

Derived from the Old English given name Uhtric.

Denoted a person who hailed from one of the various places in England called Overton, meaning "upper settlement" or "riverbank settlement" in Old English.

Variant of Patton.

Occupational name meaning "servant, page". It is ultimately derived (via Old French and Italian) from Greek παιδίον (paidion) meaning "little boy".

Diminutive of Page.

Originally denoted a person who came from the French city of Paris, which got its name from the ancient Celtic tribe known as the Parisii.

Means "keeper of the park" in Middle English. It is an occupational name for a person who was a gamekeeper at a medieval park.

Variant of Parish 1.

Variant of Parish 1.

Derived from the given name Pascal.

Diminutive of the medieval name Pate, a short form of Patrick.

Variant of Penders.

Habitational surname denoting someone originally from any of the various locations in England named Pennington, derived from Old English penning meaning "penny" (used as a byname or from a tribute due on the land) and tun meaning "town".

Originally meant "person from Penrose", Cornwall, Herefordshire and Wales ("highest part of the heath or moorland"). It is borne by the British mathematician Sir Roger Penrose (1931-).

Derived from a place name meaning "highest part of the heath or moorland" from the Celtic elements pen "head, top, end" and ros "heath, moor". Places in Cornwall, Herefordshire and Wales bear this name.

Cornish and Welsh: habitational name from any of the places called Penrose, in ten parishes of Cornwall, several in Wales, and in Herefordshire near the Welsh border. All are named with Celtic pen ‘head’, ‘top’, ‘end’ + ros ‘heath’, ‘moor’.

From the given name Pierre.

Originally referred to one who lived near a pond.

Occupational name meaning "doorkeeper", ultimately from Old French porte "door", from Latin porta.

Occupational name for a potter, one who makes earthen vessels. This surname was used by J. K. Rowling for the hero in her Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.

Occupational name, either for an apothecary, from Old French potecaire, or a seller of stew, from Old French potagier.

Derived from Old French preu meaning "valiant, brave".

French and English: nickname from a pet form of Old French proux ‘valiant’, ‘brave’, or ‘wise’ (see Proulx, Prue).

Originally belonged to one who was a prior (a religious official), or one who worked for a prior.

Variant of Quincy.

Originally from various place names in Normandy that were derived from the given name Quintus.

Apparently an altered form of Scottish McKinley or a reduced form of Irish Mcquinnelly, Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Coingheallaigh or Ó Coingheallaigh ‘son (or descendant) of Coingheallach’, a personal name meaning ‘faithful to pledges’.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cuinn meaning "descendant of Conn".

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Rabhartaigh meaning "descendant of Rabhartach". The given name Rabhartach means "flood tide".

Occupational name derived from Middle English reeve, Old English (ge)refa meaning "sheriff, prefect, local official".

Variant of Reiher.

Denoted a person who hailed from one of the various places of this name in England. The places are derived from Old English geryd "channel" or hreod "reed" combined with leah "woodland, clearing".

Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ruadhagáin ‘son of Ruadhagán’, a personal name from a diminutive of ruadh ‘red’.

From the given name Roman.

Originally denoted a person who came from any of the various places in northern France called Romilly or from Romiley in England.

Means "rose" from Middle English, Old French and Middle High German rose, all from Latin rosa. All denote a person of a rosy complexion or a person who lived in an area abundant with roses. As a Jewish surname it is ornamental, from Yiddish רויז (roiz).

Anglicized form of Ó Ruadháin.

Originally given to a person who lived near a rowan tree or mountain ash.

From French roue meaning "wheel", ultimately from Latin rota, an occupational name for a wheelwright.

Originally taken from an Old English place name meaning "Royse's town". The given name Royse was a medieval variant of Rose.

Occupational name for a maker of saddles, from Old English sadol "saddle".

Means "lightning" in Italian.

Variant of Saylor.

Nickname for a particularly pious individual, from Middle English, Old French saint, seint "holy" (Latin sanctus "blameless, holy"). The vocabulary word was occasionally used in the Middle Ages as a personal name, especially on the Continent, and this may have given rise to some instances of the surname.

Sallow comes from the medieval word for willow tree. It is a location surname.

Variant of Savage.

It meaning saint or holy. It comes from the Latin word sanctus.

Occupational name or nickname for a singer, from Old English singan "to sing, to chant".

Means "blood" in Latin. This was used in the Japanese manga and anime series Seraph of the End for the vampire capital city of Sanguinem.

French diminutive form of Savage.

From the name of various towns in France, derived from French sauve "safe" and terre "land".

English nickname meaning "wild, uncouth", derived from Old French salvage or sauvage meaning "untamed", ultimately from Latin silvaticus meaning "wild, from the woods".

Variant of Savage.

Occupational name meaning "sawer of wood, woodcutter" in Middle English, ultimately from Old English sagu meaning "saw". Mark Twain used it for the main character in his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876).

Occupational name meaning "acrobat, dancer", derived from Old French sailleor, from Latin sallitor.

Occupational name meaning "writer, clerk, scribe" in Old French, derived from Latin scriba.

Variant of Scriven.

From the unattested Old English given name Sæfaru, derived from the Old English elements sæ "sea, ocean" and faru "journey" [1].

From the name of a village that meant "willow farm" in Old English.

Occupational name for a sexton (Middle English sexteyn), a caretaker for a church or graveyard.

Topographic name for someone who lived near a boundary, from Old English scead ‘boundary’.nickname for a very thin man, from Middle English schade ‘shadow’, ‘wraith’.
Americanized spelling of German and Dutch Schade.

Originally a name for someone from Sharrow, England, derived from Old English scearu "boundary" and hoh "point of land, heel".

Variant of Shepherd.

Occupational name meaning "shepherd, sheep herder", from Old English sceaphyrde.

Variant of Shepherd.

From the name of various English towns, derived from Old English sid "wide" and halh "nook, recess".

Originally derived from various place names in England meaning "wide island", from Old English sid "wide" and eg "island". Another theory holds that it comes from the name of a town in Normandy called "Saint Denis", though evidence for this is lacking.

Derived from the given name Simon 1.

Originally indicated a person from Slane, County Meath, Ireland, which is derived from the given name Sláine.

Variant of Sloan.

Name for a person who lived near the southern gate of a town or in a town named Southgate, from Old English suþ and gæt.

From Old English spere "spear", an occupational name for a hunter or a maker of spears, or a nickname for a thin person.

From the name of the English city of Stafford, Staffordshire, derived from Old English stæð meaning "wharf, landing place" and ford meaning "ford, river crossing".

From one of the many places named Stanton or Staunton in England, derived from Old English stan meaning "stone" and tun meaning "enclosure, town".

From a nickname meaning "strong, rigid", from Old English stearc or Old High German stark.

Occupational name for a horse keeper, from Old English stod "stallion, stud" and hierde "herder".

Originally denoted someone from Storstrand farm in Norway, derived from stor meaning "big" and strand meaning "beach".

From a French place named for Saint Peter.

Derived from Middle English strange meaning "foreign", ultimately from Latin extraneus.

From Old English strod meaning "marshy ground overgrown with brushwood".

From various English place names meaning "south town".

Northern English occupational name for a servant or attendant, from Middle English swein "young man attendant upon a knight", which was derived from Old Norse sveinn "boy, servant, attendant". In some cases it may be a patronymic from the Old Norse given name Sveinn, originally from the word meaning "servant".

As a Scottish and Irish surname it is a reduced form of Mcswain, the anglicized form of an unidentified Gaelic patronymic, which perhaps meant "son of the servant" from Old Norse sveinn (or the given name Sveinn), or may have been Mac Suibhne "son of Suibhne" (a byname meaning "pleasant").

Variant of Taylor.

From any of the various places in England called Thornley or Thorley, meaning "thorn clearing" in Old English.

Originally applied to a person who lived in or near a thorn bush.

Variant of Thorn.

From any of the various places in England by this name, meaning "thorn town" in Old English.

From Old Norse þorp meaning "village".

From Old English þrostle meaning "song thrush", referring to a cheerful person.

Indicated a dweller in a forest clearing or pasture, from Old Norse þveit "clearing, pasture".

From Tindale, the name of a town in Cumbria, derived from the name of the river Tyne combined with Old English dæl "dale, valley".

Occupational name for a mender of kettles, pots and pans. The name could derive from the tinking sound made by light hammering on metal. It is possible that the word comes from the word tin, the material with which the tinker worked.

Possibly from a Germanic given name of unknown meaning. The second element of the name is derived from beraht meaning "bright, famous".

Means "knapsack" in Old French.

Occupational name meaning "tax gatherer", derived from Old English toln "toll, fee, tax".

Variant of Toller.

Indicated a person who lived at the town's edge, from Old English tun "enclosure, yard, town" and ende "end, limit".

Originally indicated a person from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, derived from Old Norse þresk meaning "fen, marsh".

Meaning unknown.

Variant of Tremblay.

Originally indicated a person from Trengove in Cornwall, England.

Means "dweller at the foot of a hill", from Old English under and hyll.

Denoted a person hailing from one of the many towns in England bearing this name. The place name itself is derived from Old English upp "up" and tun "enclosure, yard, town".

English and Scottish: from a medieval personal name, Latin Valentinus, a derivative of Valens (see also Valente), which was never common in England, but is occasionally found from the end of the 12th century, probably as the result of French influence. The name was borne by a 3rd-century saint and martyr, whose chief claim to fame is that his feast falls on February 14, the date of a traditional celebration of spring going back to the Roman fertility festival of Juno Februata. A 5th-century missionary bishop of Rhaetia of this name was venerated especially in southern Germany, being invoked as a patron against gout and epilepsy.

Indicated a dweller by a fen, from Old English fenn meaning "fen, marsh".

Derived from Hungarian vas meaning "iron", referring to a worker in iron, a miner of iron ore or a vendor of iron goods. Alternatively, from the same root word, it may have been a nickname referring to one with a distinctively strong constitution.

From a nickname meaning "truth", perhaps given originally to a truthful person.

Derived from the Old English place name wæd meaning "a ford".

From the Old English given name Wada, a derivative of the word wadan "to go".

Derived from the German compound wala-hran, literally "wall raven", but originally meaning "strong bird". Also derived from the Gaelic wealdærn, meaning "forest dwelling", thought to be derived from the Sussex village of Waldron. Although dating back to pre-7th century, the first known recorded uses were found in France after the 1066 Norman Invasion.

Means "son of Walter".

From the name of any of several villages in England, derived from Old English wealh "foreigner, Celt", weald "forest", weall "wall", or wille "well, spring, water hole" combined with tun "enclosure, yard, town".

Anglicized form of Irish Mac an Bhaird, which means "son of the bard".

Variant of Westley.

From the name of places in England, derived from Old English west "west" and broc "brook, stream".

From any of the several English towns by this name, derived from Old English meaning "west cottage".

From the name of various English towns, derived from Old English west "west" and leah "woodland, clearing".

From the given name Wilheard or Willihard.

Variant of Wolf.

From a place name meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English.

Occupational name for a forester, meaning "ward of the wood" in Old English.

Originally denoted someone who came from any of the various places of this name in northern England, from Old Norse vrá meaning "corner, nook".

From the medieval given name Wyot.

Scotland or Ireland not sure of original origin. There was a childe Wynd some type of royal who slayed a dragon type thing worm or something and a Henery Wynd who was a mercenary in a battle at north inch in Scotland

From Greek ξύλον (xylon) meaning "wood, timber" and ἀνδρός (andros) meaning "man". This surname was a Greek translation of German surnames of the same meaning.

Habitational name for someone from any of the various locations in England named Yardley, derived from Old English gierd meaning "branch, twig, pole, stick" and leah meaning "wood, clearing".

Originally indicated a person from the town of Yoxall in Staffordshire, itself derived from Old English geoc "oxen yoke" and halh "nook, recess".