Pittle, Pottell, Pottle, Pattle, Peddel, Pedel, Peedell, Piddle, Puddle, Petel etc., are all derivatives from the old English personal name "Pott or Podd". This was partially a habitational name for one who lived by an area of pits and hollows, or was possible a nickname for a rounded person. The origin is old English pre 7th Century but the surname is medieval, and is a form of patronymic which means "little Pod" or possibly "son of Pod", the "e(i)i being a shortened form of the old English "Lytel". The surname is also found in various similar spellings on the continent although the meaning is the same. Recordings included the following examples Jonathon Pedle (1555, London), Mary Peddell (1715, St. Mary, Whitechapel) whilst John Pedel married Emily HIll at St. Pancras old Church, London on December 22nd 1856. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Potel, which was dated 1243, in the "Somerset County Pipe Rolls", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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.