Gender Feminine & Masculine
Usage English
Meaning & History
From the rare English surname Waverley, derived from the name of a place in Surrey, itself possibly from Old English wæfre "flickering, wavering" and leah "woodland, clearing".The surname was borne by the title character in the novel Waverley (1814) by Walter Scott. Streets in New York and San Francisco have been named Waverly after the novel, and a female character in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) is named after the San Francisco street. The name received a small boost in popularity for girls after the 1993 release of the novel's movie adaptation, and it rose further after the debut of the television series Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-2012).