Recorded as Wardingley, Wardingly, Wardinley, Wardinglay, and possibly Wardington, Wordington and others, this is an English locational surname. It is well recorded although never common, in the county of Yorkshire but only from about the time of Queen Anne (1702 - 1714), and must therefore originate from somewhere else. However the gazetters of the British Isles for the past five centuries do not offer a clue unless it be from Wardinton, a village in Oxfordshire. This name is believed to mean the place of the watch tower (or beacon) from the Olde English word 'wearda' meaning a look out place. Clearly Wardingley has an almost similar meaning. Wardinton is also found as a rare surname in its own right, so it is possible that there is an association. More likely Wardingley and its various spellings is from a now 'lost' medieval village, of which the surviving surname is the only reminder. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homes to live somewhere else. Spelling over the centuries being at best erratic and local accents very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' forms. In this case early recordings are known to include Mary Wordington or Wardington, at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on September 27th 1663, and Jane Wardingley who married Daniel Blyth on March 28th 1714 at Conisborough in Yorkshire,

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