Recorded as Wheelband, Wheelbank, Welbank, and Welbeck, this is an English surname. We believe that the spelling as Wheelband is a transposed form of Wheelbank, because otherwise it would not seem to have any logical meaning, whilst Wheelbank is definately a development of Welbank, and Welbank could even have been from Welbeck! However we have not been able to prove a definate link between Wheelband and Wheelbank, so the jury remains out. Anything is possible with surnames given the non existent education over the centuries, and we could be completely wrong. It may originate from something else or even somewhere else. In our opinion based upon over a hundred thousand researches, all the spellings are locational and all originate from a now 'lost' medieval place called 'Welbank' or from Welbeck of which there are at least four villages mainly in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. Welbeck means the spring by the stream from the Olde English pre 7th century 'waella - bec'. Examples of recordings include Thomas Welbanke at the church of St Martin Ludgate in the city of London, on July 7th 1555, Rychard Welbeck at St Brides Fleet Street, on February 17th 1630, and Robert Wheelbrand at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on December 6th 1723.

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