Dulwitch

Recorded as Dulwich, Dulwitch, and Dulwick, this is an English locational surname. It originates from the town of Dulwich in the county of Surrey, and is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of the year 976 a.d., as 'Dilwihs,' a century before the famous Norman Conquest of England in 1066. This has been translated as the 'Dairy farm (wic) where dill grows' and this seems likely, although other explanations are just possible. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homesteads to move somewhere else, and were best identified by the name of their former village. However such names were usually given in medieval times whilst curiously here the first recording in the surviving church registers of Greater London was not until August 19th 1744, although it is possible that earlier recordings exist in other areas. On that day John Dulwitch was christened at St George's in the East, Stepney, although the parents names are not given. Another recording is that of Samuel Dulwich, whose daughter Jane was christened at St Leonards Shoreditch on July 6th 1795.