BLANCHE WELBORN

Originally a nickname for a blonde, from blanche, feminine of Old French blanc ‘white’ (of Germanic origin). It came to be associated with the notion of whiteness as indicating purity, and was introduced into England as a given name by the Normans. A pale complexion combined with light hair was long an ideal of beauty in Europe (compare Modern English fair, which at first meant ‘beautiful’ and then, from the 16th century, ‘light in colouring’).

English: habitational name from Welborne in Norfolk, Welbourn in Lincolnshire, or Welburn in North Yorkshire, all named with Old English wella ‘spring’ + burna ‘stream’.