Recorded as Prangnall, Prangnell, Pringnell, and possibly others, this is a surname that is well recorded in the surviving church registers of Greater London since at least the early Stuart times. It is probably English, and almost certainly locational from some place in one of the surname spellings or at least close to it. However an examination of the gazetters of the British Isles for the past three centuries shows no such place. The only spelling that comes anywhere near is that of Prinlaws, a parish in the county of Fife, but there is no evidence that this place has produced any surnames. We are therefore concluding that it is a "lost" medieval village name. Over the past five centuries it is estimated that about five thosand surnames of the British Isles have originated from now lost villages, of which the surname is the only public reminder. Since we do not have a village name, sadly we do not have a meaning, but it is probably Praens hall or similar, with Praen being an Olde English personal name. Early recordings include Mary Prangell christened at St Mary's church, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, on September 8th 1611, and Jonathon Pragnall christened at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on November 29th 1759.

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