Taken together, the name means a ford by a settlement or a wading place.

The Matinecocks called this land Opcathontyche, which meant "wading place creek".

What they required 'was some wading place in which,they could feed in their manner, and across the entire Eastern Shore .

The surname Skipwith is derived from Old English "sceap" (sheep) and Old Norse "vath" (ford or wading place).

The word "Vejle" derives from the Old Danish word wæthel, meaning "ford" or "wading place" due to its location at a busy crossing over Vejle River.

North of the town was the ford of the River Dearne by this road that gave the town its name: the origin of its name has been linked to the Latin vadum and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place).