leigh

Meanings

1. A meadow.

1. A surname from Middle English, variant of Lee.
2. A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
3. A female given name, Female equivalent of Lee.
4. A number of places in England:
5. A town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SD6500).
6. A village and civil parish in Dorset (OS grid ref ST6108).
7. The Leigh, a hamlet and civil parish in Tewkesbury borough, Gloucestershire (OS grid ref SO8626).
8. A village and civil parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent (OS grid ref TQ5446). Former spelling: Lyghe.
9. A civil parish in East Staffordshire district, Staffordshire, which includes Church Leigh, Lower Leigh and Upper Leigh.
10. A village and civil parish in Mole Valley district, Surrey (OS grid ref TQ2246).
11. A village and civil parish in north Wiltshire (OS grid ref SU0692).
12. A small village and civil parish (served by Leigh and Bransford Parish Council) in Malvern Hills district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO7853).

Etymology

From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”) from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”). Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (suffix forming place names)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse ló (“clearing, meadow”). More at Waterloo.