English (Yorkshire): of uncertain origin, probably from Middle
English metecalf ‘food calf’, i.e. a calf being fattened up for
eating at the end of the summer. It is thus either an occupational
name for a herdsman or slaughterer, or a nickname for a sleek and
plump individual, from the same word in a transferred sense. The
variants in med- appear early, and suggest that the first
element was associated by folk etymology with Middle English
mead ‘meadow’, ‘pasture’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
799,624
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