The earliest known appearance of the name is Wyrtingas circa AD 960. It was listed as Ordinges or Wordinges in the Domesday Book and subsequently known as Wuroininege, Wurdingg, Wording or Wurthing, Worthinges, Wyrthyng, Worthen and Weorðingas. The modern name was first documented in AD 1297.

The root itself is uncertain. Wyrt is the Old English word for “plant,” “vegetable,” “herb” or “spice,” though there is no obvious nexus with the name of the town. Moreover, the “y” was a front-loaded vowel that was indistinguishable from “i” by the end of the Anglo-Saxon period and the spelling never evolved in that direction. The more obvious Middle English worth is not likely as well, as there was a dramatic Norman language influence on the spelling at the time of the Domesday Book. A more probable root is the word for an Anglo-Saxon goddess – Wyrd – with a shift of the alveolar consonant d to t as evidenced by the eleventh century evolution of the word.