Stendell - Name

Recorded in various forms including Standall, Standell, Steandale, Standle, and Stendall, this is a syrname of English origins. It is locational from a place which may have been the village of Standhill in Oxfordshire. This village is recorded in a number of spellings including Stangedelf in the Codex Saxoni of the year 1002 a.d., and Stanidelf in the year 1220. The meaning is "The stone quarrry" from the Olde English "stan-degelf" of the pre 7th century. However it is also possible that the surname derives from a now "lost" medieval village, of which the only reminder in the 20th centry is the surname itself in its different forms. Some three thousand British Isles surnames are known to have originated from such places, so whilst unusual, the phenomena is not unique. In addition locational surnames were "from" names. That is to say names given to people after they left their original homsteads, since it was and it often remains, that one of the easiest ways to identify a stranger was to call him or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. Spelling being at best erratic and local dialects very thick, soon lead to the adoption of "sounds like" spellings. In this case the surname is well recorded in the county of Derbyshire, from the early 18th century, with John Standell who married Elizabeth Brown at Pinxton, on October 5th 1742, being possible the first name holder in the area. However the name is recorded almost a century earlier in London, with Thomas Standle also recorded as Stendall, being a witness at St Botolphs without Aldgate in the ancient city on July 1st 1651.