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Winchester Surname Origin
(Locality). A city of Hampshire, England, called Caerwynt by the Britons, from Caer, a city, town, or fortified place, and gwint, wind, from its being a windy place. The Welsh gwin signifies wine, as if called the 'Wine City.' So Howel, in his Londonopolis, quotes from old Robert of Glo'cester: 'In the country of Canterbury most plenty of fish is; And most chase of beasts about Salisbury I wis, And London ships most, and wine at Winchester, Soap about Coventry, and iron at Glo'cester; Metal, lead, and tin in the county of Exceter, Euorwick of fairest wood, Lincoln of fairest men, Cambridge and Huntingdon most plenty of deep venne, Ely of fairest place, of fairest sight, Rochester.' Bailey defines it the 'White City,' from the Welsh 'Caer guenif,' because it is built upon a chalky soil.
Surname Variations:
Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857.
Winchester Surname Meaning and Family Facts
Winchester Last Name Meaning
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A Winchester Family History Thought:
'I saw behind me those who had gone, and before me, those who were to come. I looked back and
saw my father, and his father, and all our fathers, and in front, to see my son, and his son, and the
sons upon sons beyond.
And their eyes were my eyes.
As I felt, so they had felt, and were to feel, as then, so now, as tomorrow and forever.
Then I was not afraid, for I was in a long line that had no beginning, and no end, and the hand of
his father grasped my father's hand, and his hand was in mine, and my unborn son took my right
hand, and all, up and down the line that stretched from Time That Was, to Time That Is, and Is Not
Yet, raised their hands to show the link, and we found that we were one...' --Richard Llewellyn in How Green Was My Valley