INGALL
Ingall is a surname of Anglo‑Scottish provenance that finds its roots in the pre‑7th century Old Norse personal name Ingjaldr or Inqialdr. The first element, Ing, is the name of a Norse deity associated with fertility and abundance, while the second element, jaldr or gialdr, denotes rulership or tribute. Consequently, the name has been interpreted as “Ing’s ruler” or “Ing’s tribute”.
During the Anglo‑Scandinavian period the personal name evolved into a number of Anglo‑Scandinavian forms such as Ingald and Ingold, the latter appearing in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Yorkshire. These forms were later Anglicised, giving rise to the surname Ingall. The surname has occasionally been conflated with the similar Old Norse name Ingolfr, whose second element ulfr means “wolf”; variants such as Ingulf and Ingolf are also recorded in the Domesday Book.
Documentary evidence for the name and its variants appears throughout the medieval records of England. Examples include Edmund Ingold in the Hundred Rolls of landowners of Suffolk, Emma Ingel in the same rolls for Huntingdon in 1272, and Alicia Ingle in the Poll Tax returns of Yorkshire in 1379. These entries demonstrate that women could hold land in their own right, as these records confirm. Other recorded spellings of the surname are Engall, Engel, Engle, Ingalls, Ingle, Inglis, Ingold, and Hingle.
In contemporary usage the surname Ingall remains relatively uncommon and is predominantly found within the United Kingdom. Its distribution is largely confined to regions with a documented history of Norse settlement and Anglo‑Scandinavian influence, such as Northumberland and parts of Yorkshire.
The bearers of the name Ingall are traditionally regarded as descendants of an individual who held a position of authority or leadership within the community of the Ing people, as suggested by the etymological meaning of the surname. This association with rulership or tribute underscores the historical significance of the name within its cultural context.
Typical given names associated with the Ingall surname
Male
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Ron
- Stephen
- Thomas
- Timothy
- Tom
Female
- Anne
- Dorothy
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Joanna
- Joanne
- Lisa
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Ingall in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 604 people named Ingall in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around nine in a million people in Britain are named Ingall.
Famous people named Ingall
- Michael Ingall -
- Francis Ingall - Army officer (1908 to 1998)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.