Sydall

This most interesting surname with variant spellings Syddall, Siddell etc., has two possible origins. Firstly it may be of English locational origin from either "Sindalls", a hamlet in West Sussex or "Siddal", the name of a place in Lancashire and Yorkshire. These placenames are composed of the Anglo-Saxon elements "sid", wide and "halh", a nook or recess. The name may also be a metonymic occupational name for a merchant dealing in fine silk, or from an undertaker from the old French and Medieval English "Sendal", linen shroud. Janet Sydell, of Fullwood appeared in the Lancashire Wills at Richmond in 1563. The earliest recordings of the name in London Church Registers is on August 31st 1572 when one John Syndall married Jone Hartley at St. Dunstan's, Stepney. On March 1st 1583, one Margarett Sydnall married a Richard George at St. Michael's, Cornhill, London. John Sindall, son of John and Mary Sindall was christened on June 11th 1672, at St. Giles, Cripplegate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Sydall, which was dated 1379, in the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire, during the reign of King Richard 11, known as "Richard of Bordeaux", 1377 - 1399. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.