Wish Surname: Origin, Meaning & Coat of Arms

There is no single Wish family crest for all bearers; the honest first step is to find out which Wish line, if any, bore arms.

What Wish means

Wish began as an English family name. The usual explanation, from Elsdon Smith, is “dweller at, or near, a marsh”.

It is a topographic name, describing where an early bearer lived. The name also appears as Wisher. 441 Americans were listed as Wish in the 2010 census. That puts it inside the top 50,000 US surnames.

Get the complete Wish report, with a museum-style coat of arms.