Meriwether

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine given name of English origin, best known as the first name of explorer Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition
2. A male personal name, and also a family surname, made famous by the American explorer Meriwether Lewis who crossed the continent
3. An English masculine first name carried by the American frontiersman Meriwether Lewis, co-leader of the expedition to the Pacific coast

Etymology: Most people know this name from Meriwether Lewis, the explorer who led the Lewis and Clark expedition across the American West. He was born into a Virginia family whose surname was Meriwether, and his mother, Lucy Meriwether Lewis, carried it. Her family's name became his first name, a common pattern in 18th-century Virginia, where surnames were often passed down as given names. The surname itself is English, and its exact origin is uncertain. It is usually thought to come from a Middle English place-based name, but the older form and its meaning are not firmly established. Its sound and spelling, with the stressed first syllable and the rare "-wether" ending, have made it distinctive. Outside the Lewis family, it has stayed mostly a Southern American given name.