Wakefield (surname)

Wakefield is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Andrew Wakefield (born 1957), former British bowel surgeon known for fraudulent research
• Captain Arthur Wakefield (1799–1843), who died in the Wairau Affray, brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield
• Charity Wakefield (born 1980), English actress
• Charles Wakefield, 1st Viscount Wakefield of Hythe (1859–1941), British peer and founder of Castrol
• Daniel Wakefield (1776–1846), writer on political economy
• Daniel Bell Wakefield (1798–1858), son of Edward Wakefield
• Edward Wakefield (1774–1854), English philanthropist and statistician
• Edward Wakefield (New Zealand politician) (1845–1924), son of Felix Wakefield, New Zealand politician and journalist
• Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796–1862), influential theorist on colonization
• Edward Wakefield (British politician) (1903–1969), British civil servant and Conservative Member of Parliament
• Elsie Maud Wakefield (1886–1972), English mycologist
• Felix Wakefield (1807–1875), brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield
• George William Wakefield (1887–1942), British comics author
• Gilbert Wakefield (1756–1801), English scholar and controversialist
• Howard Wakefield (1884–1941), American baseball player
• Hugh Wakefield (1888–1971), English actor
• Humphry Wakefield (born 1936), English baronet
• James Wakefield (1825–1910), United States politician
• Jenn Wakefield (born 1989), Canadian ice hockey player
• Jerningham Wakefield (1820–1879), son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, New Zealand politician and author of Adventures in New Zealand
• John Allen Wakefield (1797–1873), United States politician and military leader
• John Peter Wakefield (1915–1942), British racing car driver
• Norman Arthur Wakefield (1918–1972), Australian naturalist
• Priscilla Wakefield (1751–1832), author
• Rhys Wakefield, (born 1988), Australian actor
• Richard Wakefield, American poet and literary critic
• Robert Wakefield (died 1537), English linguist and scholar
• H. Russell Wakefield, (1888–1964), English author
• Peter Wakefield (disambiguation)
• S. A. Wakefield (1927–2009), Australian author
• Susan Wakefield, taxation expert from New Zealand
• Tim Wakefield (born 1966), pitcher for the Boston Red Sox
• Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal (1898–1983), British politician
• Colonel William Wakefield (1801–1848), who founded Wellington, New Zealand, brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield

In fiction:

• Elizabeth Wakefield and Jessica Wakefield twins from Sweet Valley High.

Distribution

As a surname, Wakefield is the 1,356th most common surname in Great Britain, with 7,767 bearers. It is most common in the West Midlands, where it is the 257th most common surname, with 3,260 bearers. Other concentrations include, the City of Leeds, (237th,1,668), Devon, (457th,1,684), and Kent, (810th,1,614).