According to "A Dictionary of British Place Names" by A.D. Mills (2003), the origin of the name Warwick is ancient and straightforward: "Dwellings by the weir or river-dam."
In Old English, the language spoken in England from roughly the sixth century A.D. to the 11th century A.D., "wæring" means river-dam, while "wīc" means dwelling.
The great survey of the English realm made by William the Conqueror in 1086, the Domesday Book, referred to the place as "Warwic." The larger shire, or district, of Warwickshire, was first referred to in the 11th century.
There is a Warwick in the English Lake District, Warwick-on-Eden. Its place name means roughly the same as the better-known Warwickshire town.
Warwick in England isn't the only town of that name in the world. There are Warwicks in the U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, the Canadian province of Quebec and the Australian state of Queensland. They are named after the English town, or, in the case of Rhode Island, the Earl of Warwick.
