Waithe, in the Haverstoe Wapentake of Lincolnshire, is thought to be originally derived from Old English (ge)wæd ‘a ford’. By the later twelfth century, the -d- was replaced by -th- either because of the Scandinavianization of the pronunciation, or by the replacement of (ge)wæd with its Old Norse cognate vað ‘a ford’. In both cases the meaning of the name is ‘at the ford’, which must be over Waithe Beck, where a minor road crosses the stream half a mile east of the church.
