Meanings
- A surname originating as an occupation.
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
"My Dad wanted to name me Mats." "But your Mom won," Carmen said, "and named you after a movie star. Moms get away with murder. Mine, you probably think, named me after the girl in the opera." "Tell you the truth," Wayne said, "I never thought about it."
1988, Elmore Leonard, Killshot, Arbor House, published 1989, →ISBN, page 1452 more examples
Marcella and Nathaniel. Now I know their names. I haven't thought much about having children, but if I did, I wouldn't give them names like that. They're the sort of names you choose if you think you're someone to be reckoned with. I wonder if this is my Reverse L'Oréal Syndrome kicking in again; what would I call my kids, Wayne and Tracey? Because I'm not worth it.
2010, Sophie Hannah, A Room Swept White, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 102The testimony of Wayne LaPierre, in the waning days of his long tenure as head of one of the nation’s most powerful lobbying groups, could highlight a New York civil trial alleging top officials used the National Rifle Association as a “personal piggy bank.”
2024 January 8, Ray Sanchez and Sabrina Souza, “Civil trial alleging top NRA officials used the organization as ‘personal piggy bank’ begins today”, in CNN - A number of places in the United States, including:
- A town in Kennebec County, Maine, named after Anthony Wayne.
- A city, the county seat of Wayne County, Nebraska.
- A township in Passaic County, New Jersey.
- A town, the county seat of Wayne County, West Virginia.
- A number of other townships in the United States, listed under Wayne Township.
Origin
- Old Englishwægen“wagon”
- EnglishWayne
An occupational surname for a cartwright, Old English wægen (“wagon”). Cf. wain.
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 韋恩 /韦恩
- 韋恩 /韦恩 (Wé'iēn)male given name
Greek Γουέιν
- Γουέιν (Gouéin)male given name
Hindi वेन
- वेन (ven)male given name
Japanese ウェイン, ウェーン
- ウェイン (Wein)male given name
- ウェーン (Wēn)male given name
Korean 웨인
- 웨인 (Wein)male given name
Russian Уэйн
- Уэйн (Uejn)male given name
Ukrainian Вейн
- Вейн (Vejn)male given name
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Wayne
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Wayne. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wayne
“Wayne.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wayne. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Wayne,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Wayne.
Source: Wayne on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.