English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Whelprigg

Early-attested site in the Parish of Kirkby Lonsdale

Historical Forms

  • Whelprig(g)e, Whelprigg 1392 Kendii,312 1683,1725 PR(KL)
  • Whelperyg 1545 FF

Etymology

Whelprigg, Whelprig (g )e , Whelprigg 1392 Kend ii, 312, 1683, 1725 PR(KL), Whelperyg 1545FF . 'Cub ridge', v. hwelp (ON  hvelpr) 'whelp, cub' (perhaps 'fox-cub' or, as Ekwall suggests, 'wolf-cub'), hrycg (in its usual northern form rigg ) or ON  hryggr. Cf. also Whelp Castle (ii, 118) from the ON  byname Hvelpr , Whelpside (i, 143, ii, 106) and Whelpstrother (i, 205 infra ).

Places in the same Parish

Other OS name

Early-attested site