Normanvell

This most interesting surname, whose epi-centre is the East Riding of Yorkshire, is locational and almost certainly French. In that respect it does not seem to derive from any place in England which could have translated as 'The valley (dael) of the Norse man', but from a village in Normandy (Seine-Inferiure) which supplied several followers of William the Conqueror in 1066. 'Normandale' is a Yorkshire dialectal form of the famous French 'de Normanville or Normanville', members of whose 'family' held extensive estates in Yorkshire from the 13th century. The proof of origin would seem to be born out by the early church recordings which show a drift of spelling from Normanvill of the 15th century, to in some parts of Yorkshire, including York itself, Normanvell, whilst Normabell, a further variant, is recorded in Atwick, near Hornsea in 1545. As the name moved towards the Scarborough Coast the change was to Normadell (Filey -1615), and later Normandale. An early example of the spelling being Christo Normandale who married Jane Stephenson at Flamborough on August 18th 1741. The coat of arms has the blazon of a silver field, on a fess between four barrulets, three fleur de lis of the field, and a bend sinister in blue. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Emma de Normanvill, which was dated 1195, in the pipe rolls of the county of Sussex, during the reign of King Richard 1, known as 'The Lionheart', 1189 - 1199. 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.