Frequency: (277)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
English: habitational name from Whelpley Hill in Ashley Green, Buckinghamshire or from places called Whelpley in Hailsham, Sussex, and Whiteparish, Wiltshire, all named with Old English hwelp ‘whelp’, ‘cub’, ‘young animal’ + lēah ‘(woodland) clearing’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
