Edwick

Recorded as Edwick, Edswicke and Edwicker, this very unusual surname is English. It has two possible origins, one occupational, the other locational. In both cases they would seem to originate from the pre 7th century words "edisc" meaning an enclosed park or hunting ground, plus "wic" meaning a dairy farm. Where appropriate the agent suffix ending of "-er", would imply a worker at, or occupant of, the dairy farm. There does not appear to be any such place as Edwick recorded in any of the known gazetters of the past three centuries. This suggests that the name relates to one of the three thousand or so "lost" medieval villages of the British Isles, of which the only surviving reminder in the 20th century, is the surname itself. Recordings of the name are quite rare. They include William Edwick, who married Mary Dorington, at the church of St James Clerkenwell, in the city of London, on July 15th 1680, Thomas and Martha Edswicke who were christening witnesses at St Andrews Holborn, also city of London, on May 17th 1737, and Harriot Edwicker who married James Saunders on October 13th 1814 at Hodsworth, in the county of Sussex. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Thomas Edwaker. This was dated 1279, in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.