The English surname Winters, also found in Ireland, is a nickname or byname for someone of a frosty or gloomy temperament, from the Middle English term winter. When found in Ireland the name is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name  Mac Giolla-Gheimhridh meaning “son of the lad of winter,” from geimhreadh “winter.” The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Winter, which was dated 1185, in the Knight Templars Roll for the county of Warwickshire. John Winters, aged 18 years, was an Irish emigrant who sailed from Liverpool aboard the "Cambridge", bound for New York on January 4th 1847.