Mandal

Recorded in several forms including Mandal, Mandall, Mandel, Mandell, Mandelman, Mandle, Mantell, Mantle and others, this is a surname of German, Anglo-Saxon, and sometimes Askenasic origins. It derives from the word 'mandala' itself from the Latin 'amamdula' and the Hebrew 'mandl' both meaning almond, and referring to either the owner of an almond orchard, a seller or merchant of almonds or perhaps residential for somebody who lived by a place such as an almond orchard. Many Jewish surnames are what is known as ornamental in that they are abstract and describe a fictious situation of beauty and value, the almond being so regarded, as well as being actually factual. It is unclear as to when the surname was first recorded although one Hans Mandell of Ertingen was recorded in the charters of that German town in 1437. In the surviving registers of the city of London we have Ann Mantle who married John Tilsdale at St Bartholomew the Less in the city of London, on April 2nd 1594, and Louisa Mandal who married John Minns at St Botolphs Bishopgate on March 17th 1805.