Leidl

Recorded in several spellings including Leidl and Loidl, and the compounds Lolbach, Lohlback, and Lullbach, this is a German residential or perhaps ornamental and locational surname. It is believed to originate from a pre 7th century word "lohl" meaning hill and the later medieval "hugel", a mound, to describe a person who lived by such a place. Surnames based upon natural or man made features in the countryside were amongst the earliest to be created, from about the 12th century a.d. onwards. The compound forms are designed to introduce a more attractive appearance to surnames, and were particularly encouraged in the 18th centuries, when, as now, many people from other parts of Europe poured into Germany. As these people often did not possess any recogizeable surnames, they were encouraged by the authorities to adopt forms such as Lolbach (Hill-stream) and Grenberg (Green- mountain) and similar. Early examples of the recording of this surname taken from surviving authentic church registers of Germany, include Elizabeth Loidl of Oberbayern, who married Kaspar Maerz there on September 9th 1660, Josephus Leidle, christened at Karlsruhe, Baden, on September 20th 1763, and Aldys Leidl, married at Oberbayern, on February 5th 1873.