Dingley - Meno

This unusual surname is English and locational. Recorded as Dingley or Dingle, it originates from a little village in the county of Northamptonshire called Dingley or possibly Dingle in Lancashire. Dingley is an ancient place first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Dinglei'. The name means 'The fenced enclosure or farm, in a lttle valley or dell'. There is also a similarly named place called Dingle in the county of Lancashire, and it is just possible that some nameholders do originate from that place. Locational surnames of this type were generally given either to the local lord of the manor and his descendants or more usually to former inhabitants who had moved somewhere esle. The easiest way to identify such strangers was to to call them by the name of their former village. Spelling being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case early examples of the recording taken from surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London include: Mary Dingley, the daughter of Thomas Dingley, christened at St Botolphs Bishopgate on February 6th 1596, and Judith Dingle, the daughter of Degory Dingle, christened at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on May 12th 1611.