Recorded in various forms including Gingell, Ginglell and Gyngell, this surname is English. It is locational, and in its various spellings widespread in the counties of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire in the West Country. It originates from a now 'lost' medieval village, and appears to translate as "The hill or valley of the Gaeging people", a pre 7th Century tribe whoare known to have lived in the region. Over five thousand British surnames are believed to have originated from now lost places. The main cause of these was the enforced "clearing", and subsequent dispersal of the former tenants to make way for sheep pastures in the 15th century, although natural causes such as the Black Death plague of 1348 also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. Early examples of the surname recording include: John Gingell who married Margit Fylkes on January 15th 1570, at St. Michael's church, Kington, Wiltshire, and William who Gyngell married Edyth Holway, at the same church on on July 7th 1576. Addam Gindghill married Ayles Wynston on November 28th 1596 at St. George's, Bristol, while the marriage of Thomas Gyngyll and Katherine Keepe took place on July 14th 1600, at St. Mary Magdalene's, Bermondsey, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Michael de Gingedale, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire", during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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