Woolland Family History

Perhaps from Woolland (Dorset), which is recorded as Winlande in 1086 and Wuland' in 121. The place-name derives from Old English *wynne ‘pasture meadow’ + land ‘land’. From Middle English wough ‘bent crooked’ + land(e) lond(e) ‘land’ (Old English wōh + land).

The surname could be for a person who lived at or near a bend in a stream or river or for someone from any place so named, such as Wollensbrook in Great Amwell (Herts). However, no medieval bearers of such a surname have been found.

Wollensbrook was recorded as Wollans brook in 1689 and Woollens about 1840, and so Woollen may sometimes be a variant of this surname.

Variants in -ham may be due to scribal variation between final -n and -m, and the subsequent misinterpretation of -am as being for -ham.