POOL
Pool is a surname of English origin, with a history that stretches back to early medieval England. According to contemporary records it is a locational or topographic name given to individuals who lived near a small body of water such as a pond or pool. The name derives from the Middle English words pol or pool, which in turn originate in Old English and meant a small, round place of water.
The surname may also have arisen from habitational usage. In England there are several settlements called Pool or Poole, including a town in Dorset and a village near the city of Chester. Individuals who hailed from any of these places were sometimes identified by the place name, resulting in the surname that stretches across a wide geographical range.
A further possibility is that the surname was a nickname for a person described as poor or humble, taken from the Old English word pōl meaning poor or humble. This explains the occurrence of the surname in as many as four different contexts in contemporary records.
Historical documents contain early attestations of the name. Roger de Pole is recorded in the Pipe Rolls for the county of Wiltshire in 1191, and Robert Poole of Poole, Chester appears in 1280. In Germany, Claus Pohler of Niederingelheim is noted in 1364. The earliest known spelling of the surname in England is thought to be Mauritius de la Pole, dated 1176 in the Pipe Rolls of Devonshire during the reign of King Henry I, where the individual is referenced as “The Builder of Churches” between 1154 and 1189.
Throughout history the surname has evolved into numerous orthographic variants, including Poole, Pole, Pooley, Pooles, Polmann, Gohl, and others. In German-speaking regions the name appears as Pohl, Pohle, Pohling, and Pohlmann. Recent scholarship has also shown that some bearers of the name may have a derivation from the Christian name Paul, which can describe a follower of the apostle.
In modern times the surname is frequently found in the United Kingdom, particularly in Greater London and West Yorkshire, as well as in parts of the United States such as Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee. The dispersal of the surname across continents reflects patterns of emigration over the last several centuries.
Typical given names associated with the Pool surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Jonathan
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
- Thomas
Female
- Christine
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Fiona
- Helen
- Jacqueline
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Rebecca
- 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 Pool in...
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There are approximately 1,959 people named Pool in the UK. That makes it roughly the 4,274th most common surname in Britain. Around 30 in a million people in Britain are named Pool.
Surname type: Location or geographical feature
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Pool
- Richard Pool-Jones - Rugby union player and coach
- Malcolm Pool - Musician
- E. Ion Pool - Athlete (1858 to 1939)
- Charles Pool - Cricketer (1876 to 1954)
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.