This is an English surname. Recorded as Bendell, Bendle, Bendel, Benthall and others, it has two possible origins. The first is locational from the village of Bendell in the county of Derbyshire, or just possibly for some nameholders from the village of Benthall in the county of Shropshire. Bendell means the place (halh) of the bean field, whilst Benthall describes a place of 'bent grass'. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification when they left their former homes to move somewhere else. Spelling being at best indifferent and local accents very thick, often lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings. The second possible origin is from the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic personal name 'Bendel'. This derives from the Roman word 'bene', meaning well or good, with the diminutive 'del' denoting the 'son of'. The name is well recorded in Germany, the earliest being the marriage of Paulus Bendel and Barbara Strickerin, on September 29th 1524 at Bayern. The earliest recording of this name in England relates to a family who still live on the ancestral estate of Benthall, to this day. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Anfrid de Benthall. This was dated 1120, in the Shropshire Charters, during the reign of King Henry 1st, known as 'The Lion of Justice', 1100-1135. 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.

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