This is an English surname. Apparently recorded as Wardhaugh, Wardhaw, and Wardhough, it is clearly locational, but not it would seems from any known surviving place in the British Isles. The meaning of the place name and hence the later surname, is believed to be "The lookout place on the hill", from the Olde English pre 7th century "weard-hoh". Experience would suggest that this place was in the north of England and probably in one of the border counties of Cumberland and Northumberland, but this is not proven. Locational surnames are by their nature "from" names. That is to say names given as easy identification to people after they left their original homes to move elsewhere. In this case there is the complication of the lost site. It is estimated that well over three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from "lost" medieval villages, and this would seem to be another example to add to the list. Recordings taken from surviving church registers include: Robert Wardhaugh, a witness at Morpeth, Northumberland, on February 2nd 1585, William Wardhaugh, whose daughter Mary was christened at St Andrews church, Holborn, in the city of London, on January 17th 1731, and Elizabeth Wardhough, who married William Tolerson at West Acklam, in Yorkshire, on April 8th 1743.

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