Dallaway Family History

Perhaps from Middle English dale (Old English dæl, Old Scandinavian dalr) + weie (Old English weg) ‘valley road’ but this cannot be confirmed as no forms have been found with a preposition. The variant spelling Del- (later Dil-) would reflect occasional variation between a and e as Middle English reflexes of Old English æ and possibly the common confusion between the words dale and dell.

Perhaps from an unrecorded Middle English personal name *Dal(e)wy, Dal(e)wey representing an Old English *Dealwīg, a compound of Old English deal ‘proud, eminent’ (attested in Old English Dealwine, Deal(l)a, Dealing) and Old English wīg ‘war’. The vowel between the first and second syllables of the surname would be an intrusive addition in Middle English, possibly influenced by re-interpretation of the surname as dale (Old English dæl) + wey; see (i).

Occasionally, perhaps an altered form of Delavall, as implied by John Delavall alias Delloway 1706 in TNA (Shrops), unless Delavall is a variant of Dellaway. See Laval and compare Willyam Dallaway 1625 in IGI (Peterborough, Northants) with John De Lavall esq. of Dasthorphall 1668 in TNA (Dogsthorpe near Peterborough, Northants).