WILBERFORCE

Wilberforce: translation

English: transferred use of the surname, which originated as a local name fromWilberfossin North Yorkshire. This place is so called from theOld Englishfemale personal nameWilburg(seeWILBUR(SEE Wilbur)) +Old Englishfossditch (fromLatinfossa). It may have been taken up as a given name in honour of the antislavery campaigner William Wilberforce (1759–1833), or perhaps because it is thought of as an extended form ofWilbur.