MEALE

Meale is a surname of English origin.

The name is traced to the Old English word mǣl, which meant “a mark” or “a sign”. It is believed that the surname first appeared as a nickname for an individual who was noted for a distinctive mark upon the body, or for someone involved in the making of signs or signposts.

Alternate interpretations describe Meale as a locational or topographical name. According to the Victorian etymologist C. Bardsley (1880), the name derives from the word meol, a sandbank or mole – a solid jetty extending into the water – and denotes a person who lived at such a feature. Place names that support this derivation include Eskmeols and Northmeols in Cumberland and Lancashire.

There is also a possibility that the modern surname is a truncated form of the medieval occupational name Meleman, itself a shortened version of Mealmonger, a supplier of what contemporary linguists would describe as fast food. However, this connection is not definitively proven.

The surname appears in a number of recorded variants, such as Meal, Mele, Meales, Meels, Meel, and Meals. No extant record links the name with the consumption of food, apart from a possible association with fishing.

Earliest documented instances of the name include Margery de Meoles, listed in the Hundred Rolls of Somerset in 1273; Elizabeth Meale, recorded at the church of St Peter-le-Poer in London on 11 February 1595; Anne Meal, noted at St Mary Abbots, Kensington, on 6 April 1676; and Edward Meals, found at St Sepulchre in London on 13 September 1720.

Although modern usage of the surname does not typically relate to culinary connotations, its historical origins reflect a rich tapestry of linguistic and geographical influences within England.

Typical given names associated with the Meale surname

Male

• Andrew
• Brian
• Darren
• David
• Gary
• John
• Joseph
• Michael
• Stephen
• Steven
• Stuart

Female

• Alexandra
• Alison
• Amanda
• Av
• Claire
• Edna
• Karen
• Margaret
• Paula
• Rachel
• Sarah

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 Meale in...

Braille

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Morse

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Semaphore

Famous people named Meale

• Alan Meale - Politician

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.

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