Frequency: (125)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
English: origin uncertain. Perhaps a variant of Wheeless, or of Wheels, from Old English hwēol ‘wheel’, and so a topographic name for someone who lived near a waterwheel, or a metonymic occupational name for someone in charge of one.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
