Lamball

This interesting and unusual surname is a variant of Lambold, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is locational from a now "lost" place, thought to have been in Hampshire, due to the large number of recordings in that county. The placename is derived from the Middle English (1200 - 1500), Old English pre 7th Century "lamb", a nickname for a meek and inoffensive person, and the Old English "bold", dwelling house, hall; the placename means "lamb's hall". An estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets are known to have disappeared in Britain since circa 1100, due to such natural disasters as the Black Death of 1348, in which an eighth of the population perished, or to the widespread practice of "clearing" large areas of land to make sheep pastures during the height of the wool-trade in the 14th and 15th Centuries. The modern surname can be found as Lambold, Lambal(l), Lambol(l), Lambole and Lamble. Among the recordings in Hampshire are the christening of Philip, son of Philip and Sarah Lamble, on September 27th 1724 at Headley, and the marriage of Peter Lamble and Sarah Matthews on July 1766 at Alverstoke. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicolas Lambold (christening), which was dated June 11th 1539, at Heckfield and Mattingley, Hampshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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.