Dingle

This unusual surname is of early medieval English origin, and is either a topographical name for a dweller by or in the dingle, or a locational name from a place called Dingle in Lancashire, both deriving from the Middle English "dingle" meaning a dingle, a deep dell or hollow. The placename is recorded as "Dingyll" in the Assize Rolls of 1246. There is a district of Liverpool called Dingle also. The surname dates back to the mid 13th Century (see below) and early recordings include William Dingel (1273) in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire, Hugh de la Dingle (1275) in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire, and John ate Dyngle (1299) in the Studies on Middle English Local Surnames, from Worcestershire. Church Records list the christenings of Isabell, daughter of Robart Dingle, on May 16th 1596, and his son John on March 25th 1599, both at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. Mary Dingle married Robert Hepheard on July 12th 1687 in Bury, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Dingyl, which was dated 1246, a witness in the "Assize Rolls of Lancashire", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.