Wye Surname

241,088th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 1,658 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
England
Highest density in:
Fiji

Wye Surname Definition:

(English) Man; Warrior [M English wy(e, Old English wíga; from wíg, war] And as alle thise wise wyes Weren togideres.—Piers Plowman, 13284-5.

(Celtic) Dweller by one of the Rivers Wye [from the early form of Welsh g)wy, water: thus the Wye which runs into the Severn is called Gwy in Wales; and one of its tributaries is the Bach-wy = Little Gwy.

Read More About This Surname

Wye Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England6481:85,9859,406
Fiji4401:2,033307
United States1641:2,210,115138,772
Australia1251:215,96620,787
Malaysia821:359,68619,062
Singapore561:98,3524,171
Canada531:695,20056,020
New Zealand311:146,07517,002
Thailand141:5,045,596363,835
Scotland91:594,86921,724
Wales71:442,07621,198
Netherlands61:2,814,529101,176
Slovakia51:1,067,29085,393
China41:341,830,39216,990
Nigeria31:59,047,586507,603
United Arab Emirates21:4,581,13693,443
Iran21:38,391,262236,033
France21:33,211,361423,184
South Africa11:54,177,704343,732
Taiwan11:23,444,74693,622
Kenya11:46,179,900103,372
India11:767,065,3821,851,717
Brazil11:214,074,3321,693,628
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
England2711:89,9469,346
Scotland11:3,743,21632,299
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States971:517,71836,097

Wye (2,907) may also be a first name.

Wye Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(English) Man; Warrior [M English wy(e, Old English wíga; from wíg, war] And as alle thise wise wyes Weren togideres.—Piers Plowman, 13284-5.

(Celtic) Dweller by one of the Rivers Wye [from the early form of Welsh g)wy, water: thus the Wye which runs into the Severn is called Gwy in Wales; and one of its tributaries is the Bach-wy = Little Gwy.

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison

(English) One who came from Wye (heathen temple), in Kent; dweller at, or near, the Wye (running water) or Wey, the names of several British rivers.

Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

A parish in Kent; and a picturesque western river.

Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lower

User-submitted Reference

My family's surname was spelled Wye but it was changed to Whye after the 1890 US census. I have traced my family members on ancestry.com and it showed how their surname was spelled Wye before the census and the h was added on the census making it Whye. Many of my family members are from Maryland, then some of them moved to Delaware and a few moved to Ohio.

- edie

Wye Last Name Facts

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

The last name Wye is most common in England. It can occur as:. Click here for further potential spellings of this surname.

How Common Is The Last Name Wye? popularity and diffusion

The last name Wye is the 241,088th most widely held family name on a global scale. It is borne by approximately 1 in 4,395,384 people. It is primarily found in Europe, where 41 percent of Wye are found; 40 percent are found in Northern Europe and 40 percent are found in British Isles. Wye is also the 134,708th most commonly used forename globally It is held by 2,907 people.

The surname Wye is most widespread in England, where it is borne by 648 people, or 1 in 85,985. In England it is most numerous in: Greater London, where 13 percent reside, Surrey, where 12 percent reside and West Midlands, where 7 percent reside. Besides England this last name occurs in 22 countries. It also occurs in Fiji, where 27 percent reside and The United States, where 10 percent reside.

Wye Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of Wye has changed through the years. In England the number of people bearing the Wye surname increased 239 percent between 1881 and 2014; in The United States it increased 169 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in Scotland it increased 900 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Wye Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Wye last name are 10.41% more likely to be registered with the Democratic Party than The US average, with 63.64% being registered to vote for the political party.

The amount Wye earn in different countries varies markedly. In United States they earn 30.84% more than the national average, earning $56,458 USD per year and in Canada they earn 5.06% less than the national average, earning $47,171 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Whye86933/
Wyhe8628/
Wyee8612/
Wyeh869/
Wyie866/
Hwye862/
Wjye861/
Vwye861/
Whyee75587/
Waiye75448/
Wayie75111/
Woyie7580/
Weiye7570/
Woiye7539/
Wyher7537/
Wyess7522/
Whyea7513/
Waaye758/
Wyhet755/
Wayye754/
Wyhee752/
Weyie751/
Wyhie751/
Wyech751/
Whyed751/
Wyaee751/
Whyie751/
Whyeh751/
Wujye751/
Wyehe750/
Wyeht750/
Wyohe750/
Wyeds750/
Bye6714,473/
Wie673,291/
Vye671,098/
Waayer67177/
Woiyea6738/
Waheye6713/
Wehaye6712/
Wje6711/
Wayier679/
Waiyee677/
Woiyeh676/
Wayyes676/
Wyj675/
Wehyie673/
Waayea672/
Weiyee672/
Woiyee672/
Wjy672/
Wayhie671/
Hwajye671/
Wée671/
D'Wyer671/
Hwayje671/
Whyhea671/

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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 Wye
  • 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