814 Global WHITELOCK Family Members

WHITELOCK Family History

This interesting surname is of early medieval English origin, and has two possible meanings. Firstly, it may be from a nickname for someone with remarkably white or blonde hair, deriving from the Middle English "whit", white, with "lock", a tress or a curl. However, there is also an Olde English pre 7th Century personal name composed of the elements "whit", demon or elf, and "lac", play or sport; hence, "elf play", and Whitlock, and its variant Whitelock, may be from this source. A sizeable group of early European surnames were gradually created from the habitual use of nicknames.