CECIL HEATHERLY

Transferred use of the surname of a great noble family, which rose to prominence in England during the 16th century. The Cecils were of Welsh origin, and their surname represents an Anglicized form of the Welsh given name Seissylt. In the Middle Ages Cecil was occasionally used as an English form of Latin Caecilius (an old Roman family name derived from the byname Caecus ‘blind’), borne by a minor saint of the 3rd century, a friend of St Cyprian.

English: habitational name from Down Hatherley and Up Hatherley in Gloucestershire, or from Hatherleigh in Devon, all named from Old English haguþorn ‘hawthorn’ + lēah ‘(woodland) clearing’.