Mereweather Surname

1,343,156th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 166 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
Wales

Mereweather Surname Definition:

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'merry weather'; a happy, genial, sunshiny fellow; a colloquial expression. Nothing to do with a wether sheep. compare Fairweather, used in exactly a similar sense, and still existing as a surname.

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Mereweather Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England871:640,43737,483
Canada491:751,95159,756
United States121:30,204,911765,334
Denmark101:564,47234,222
Wales81:386,81619,671
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England351:696,43933,013
Wales11:1,568,41619,290
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States61:8,369,781355,680

Mereweather Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

This surname is derived from a nickname. 'merry weather'; a happy, genial, sunshiny fellow; a colloquial expression. Nothing to do with a wether sheep. compare Fairweather, used in exactly a similar sense, and still existing as a surname.' Fayre, mery wedur or tyme fayir as wedyr, amenus': Promptorium Parvulorum 'Myryweder, or softe weder, malaria' (ibid). Merry is here used in the sense of pleasant. Way adds a quotation from Vegecius, attributed to Trevisa, Roy. MS. 18 A. xii, where it is observed that wise warriors in olden times used to 'occupie theire foot menne in dedes of armes in the felde in mery wedire,' i.e. fair weather (v. Way's edit. Prompt. Parv). As a surname it occurs, among some other fictitious characters, in one of the Coventry Mysteries, where mention is made of 'Bontyng the Brewster, and Sybyly Sfynge, Megge Mery-wedyr, and Sabine Sprynge.'

Andrew Muriweder, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Thomas Murweder, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Henry Muriweder. Issues of the Exchequer.

1617. Married — Thomas Church and Francis Merry weather: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1667. John Ferris and Jane Merrywether (Wiltshire): Marriage Alleg. (Canterbury).

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

Formerly an idiomatic phrase for joy, pleasure, or delight. Halliw. Hence probably applied to a person of hilarious temperament. Fairweather and Fineweather are analogous surnames.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

(found Merywedyr). Halliwell says the word merryweather was formerly an idiomatic phrase for joy, pleasure, or delight. This name is probably from Anglo-Saxon wether, wedder, a ram; Danish, vœder. compare the surnames Fairweather (H.R. Fayrweder), Fearweather, Fineweather, Foulweather, Kieseweather, Starkweather.

Ludus Patronymicus (1868) by Richard Stephen Charnock

MERYWEDYR: An old spelling of Merryweather. See English Surn. i. 36.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

Mereweather Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Mereweather Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname Mereweather occurs in England more than any other country/territory. It can be found as:. Click here for other possible spellings of Mereweather.

How Common Is The Last Name Mereweather? popularity and diffusion

It is the 1,343,156th most frequently used family name on a global scale It is held by approximately 1 in 43,900,879 people. The last name occurs predominantly in Europe, where 63 percent of Mereweather reside; 63 percent reside in Northern Europe and 57 percent reside in British Isles.

The surname Mereweather is most frequently held in England, where it is borne by 87 people, or 1 in 640,437. In England it is most numerous in: Somerset, where 31 percent are found, City of Bristol, where 18 percent are found and Herefordshire, where 9 percent are found. Beside England this surname is found in 4 countries. It is also common in Canada, where 30 percent are found and The United States, where 7 percent are found.

Mereweather Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Mereweather has changed over time. In England the number of people who held the Mereweather last name rose 249 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it rose 200 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in Wales it rose 800 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Mereweather Last Name Statistics demography

The amount Mereweather earn in different countries varies significantly. In United States they earn 32.93% more than the national average, earning $57,357 USD per year and in Canada they earn 1.97% more than the national average, earning $50,660 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

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Mereweather Reference & Research

Meriwether DNA Website - A web page dedicated to the genetic research of those who bear the surname and its variants.

Meriwether FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Mereweather
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis