Eborall

Recorded in many spellings including Ebral, Ebraule, Eborel, Eborall, Ebriell, Ebrul, and no doubt others, this is an English surname. It is almost certainly locational from a place called Ebor Hall or Ebor Hill, or similar. In fact a place called Ebor Hall does exist in County Galway in Ireland, but this is not the source of the surname. Ebor Hall was built by an English settler of the 17th century, and one probably from the city of York, which was known as Eboracum, the place of the yew (eborus) trees, in Roman times. At least three thousand surnames of the British Isles do originate from 'lost' places, so this whilst still unusual, is not a unique phenomenon. Locational surnames are in addition 'from' names. That is to say a name given to a person who had left their original home to settle somewhere else. Over the centuries spelling being at best indifferent and local accents very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. In this case early examples of the name recording include Margaret Ebraule who married John Dalton at St Augustines church, Watling Street, on April 30th 1561, and John Eborall who was christened at St Mary Aldermary, on April 26th 1742, both recordings being in the city of London