The Wolford surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 10,789 people carried this name — #3,326 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 27,300 people counted. About the same as in 2000 (10,738).

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What the name means

The meaning of the Wolford surname

A habitational surname from Old English. From the villages of Great and Little Wolford, in Warwickshire.

From Old English wulf (“wolf”) + weard (“guard, protector”). The second element was at some point misanalyzed as ford.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Wolford» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.

As an English and Welsh surname

Bardsley classes it as a local name, from where the family lived: ‘of Wolford’.

His entry covers Woolford, Woollford and Wolford.

From Charles W. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with Special American Instances (London: Henry Frowde, 1901), p. 826 · public domain.

In print

Wolford in American newspapers,
1901–1916.

Newspaper page from The Butte Inter Mountain carrying the name Wolford
The Butte Inter Mountain 1901-11-07
Newspaper page from The St. Mary Banner carrying the name Wolford
The St. Mary Banner 1916-06-10
Newspaper page from The Butte Inter Mountain carrying the name Wolford
The Butte Inter Mountain 1901-11-04

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 30,755 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Wolford in Australian newspapers,
1840s–1950s.

528 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Wolford. The most, 148, date from the 1890s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in Queensland, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 236
Queensland 133
Victoria 106
South Australia 21
Tasmania 17
Western Australia 12
ACT (Canberra) 1

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Wolford.

Who carried it

People named Wolford,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Frank Lane Wolford
    Frank Lane Wolford 1817–1895 · lawyer
  • Peter Wolford 1812–1894
  • Nathan D. Wolford 1852–1919 · writer
  • Leah Jackson Wolford 1892–1918 · writer
  • Jean Wolford Kennedy 1919–1991 · artist
  • Wayne L. Wolford 1925–2020 · conscript

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Wolford,
in the records of 3 countries.

Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.

United States612 records

612 records of the Wolford name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 386
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 106
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 54
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 37
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 14
  • Passenger arrivals in the United States, 1820–1912 8
  • U.S. service members who died in the Korean War 4
  • U.S. service members who died in the Vietnam War 3
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Clark Wolford

    Born 1923 in West Virginia. Enlisted 1943 at Clarksburg; woodworker from Webster County. Veteran of World War II; died 1945, buried at Grafton National Cemetery, West Virginia.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain); U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  2. Names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C.
    Example: U.S. war memorial
    War record Billara Wolford

    Born 1947; from Sheffield, Ohio. U.S. Army, motor transport operator; killed in action 1968 in Quang Nam, South Vietnam.

    U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain)
  3. A passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, arriving at New York in 1903
    Example: passenger manifest, 1903
    Passenger record Heinrich Wolford

    Arrived at New York in 1866 aboard the Reinhard from Bremen, aged 38; farmer. From Gernany, Germany.

    U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted)

Showing 3 of 612 records for Wolford in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Castle Garden Immigration Center Collection, Ship Passenger Records (unrestricted) · U.S. National Archives, Defense Casualty Analysis System (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Vietnam Veterans Memorial, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, 2009 (public domain); Passenger manifest of the S.S. St. Paul, New York, 1903 (public domain).

Canada8 records

8 records of the Wolford name in Canada
  • City of Calgary cemetery records 7
  • Ontario immigration records, 1865–1883 1
  1. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Leonard Russell Wolford

    Buried in 1980 at Union Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, aged 66.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.
  2. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Marguerite Renee E. Wolford

    Buried in 1973 at Queen's Park Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.
  3. Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Example: Canadian cemetery
    Burial record Mickaline Wolford

    Buried in 1934 at Burnsland Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta.

    City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary.

Showing 3 of 8 records for Wolford in Canada.

Counts: City of Calgary. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. · Archives of Ontario. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).

Australia5 records

5 records of the Wolford name in Australia Tasmanian Names Index
  1. The first page of an emigration file from Gündlingen, Baden, 1883
    Example: German emigration file, 1883
    Emigration record Frederick Wolford

    Left Launceston in 1848 aboard the Shamrock, bound for Melbourne.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Sarah Wolford

    Married 1877 in Richmond, Tasmania, aged 18.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  3. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Birth record James Wolford

    Born 1824 in Hobart, Tasmania.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)

Showing 3 of 5 records for Wolford in Australia.

Counts: Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Emigration file, Gündlingen, 1883, Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg B 694/1 Nr. 1389 (CC BY 4.0); Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Wolford.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Wolford is.
A volume says what happened to it.

Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.

See the Wolford volume
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