Whinfield

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An English surname, and also the name of several small villages and places in northern England
2. A family name of English origin that is also borne by a few localities in the north of England
3. Used as a surname of English origin, as well as for some northern English settlements and districts

Etymology: Whinfield is a compound of "whin," an old northern English word for gorse, the spiky, yellow-flowered shrub that covers heaths and commons, and "field," meaning open ground. Together they describe land where gorse grew thickly, and the name was likely given to such a patch of common ground. "Whin" survived mostly in northern and Scottish dialect, where it was the ordinary name for the plant, and it is probably of Scandinavian origin, though the exact source is uncertain. Its use in place names reflects how common the plant once was on the uncultivated land of northern England and Scotland. Many places and families bear the name, and as a surname it was likely taken from a homestead or estate near such a field, so the name records a local landscape rather than a person.