Waddell Family History
Waddell Surname Meaning
Scottish: habitational name from Wedale near Galashiels (Selkirkshire). This was also the old name of the parish of Stow in Midlothian. The placename may be from Old English wēoh ‘heathen shrine’ (and if so an example which is unusually far north and therefore Old English wēod ‘weed herb’ might be preferred) + dæl ‘hollow dell’.
English: habitational name from Wadden Hall in Waltham (Kent). The placename may derive from an Old English personal name Wæda (genitive Wæden) or Old English wāden ‘growing with woad’ + Old English halh ‘nook corner of land’.
English: perhaps a habitational name from Woodhill Park in Clyffe Pypard (Wiltshire). The placename derives from Old English wād ‘woad’ + hyll ‘hill’.
Alternatively, this name might derive from a hypothetical Middle English personal name Wadel (Old English Wædel).
English: habitational name occasionally perhaps from Odell (Bedfordshire) which is recorded as Wadehelle in 1086; see O'Dell.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022