Merreywether Surname
Approximately 28 people bear this surname
Merreywether 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.
Read More About This SurnameMerreywether Surname Distribution Map
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 28 | 1:1,989,931 | 78,001 |
| Place | Incidence | Frequency | Rank in Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 5 | 1:4,875,074 | 116,529 |
Merreywether 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).
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.
(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.
MERYWEDYR: An old spelling of Merryweather. See English Surn. i. 36.
Merreywether Last Name Facts
Where Does The Last Name Merreywether Come From? nationality or country of origin
The last name Merreywether is most common in England. It can appear in the variant forms:. For other possible spellings of this surname click here.
How Common Is The Last Name Merreywether? popularity and diffusion
The surname Merreywether is the 3,730,171st most frequently occurring surname globally It is held by around 1 in 260,269,497 people. It occurs predominantly in Europe, where 100 percent of Merreywether reside; 100 percent reside in Northern Europe and 100 percent reside in British Isles.
This last name is most commonly held in England, where it is held by 28 people, or 1 in 1,989,931. In England Merreywether is mostly found in: Somerset, where 57 percent are found, Nottinghamshire, where 32 percent are found and Greater London, where 7 percent are found.
Merreywether Family Population Trend historical fluctuation
The occurrence of Merreywether has changed through the years. In England the share of the population with the surname grew 560 percent between 1881 and 2014.
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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 Merreywether
- To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis