Recorded in many forms including Riccal, Riccall, Rickall, Rickell, Rickle, and the dialectals Riggall, Riggell, Riggles, Riggoll, Wriggle, Wriggles and others, this is an English surname. It is locational and originates from either the village of Riccal, near the market town of Helmsley, in North Yorkshire, or the village of Riccall in East Yorkshire, and not far from the city of York. The meanings of the name are slightly different. Riccal in the 14th century was the rather more cumbersome 'Ricolvegraines' and means 'The small island in the river', whilst Riccall was recorded as Richale in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, and translates as 'Ric's hill', with Ric being from the pre 7th century personal name Rica, rather than the later Richard. Locational surnames are from names. This is to say names given to people after they left their original homes for whatever reason, to live somewhere else. Spelling being at best erratic, and local dialects very thick, soon lead to the development of 'sounds like' spellings some far removed from the original. In this case we have various recordings from the surviving church registers of the county of Yorkshire. These include Anthony Riccall at Pocklington on January 17th 1585, Elizabeth Riggell at Doncaster on June 18th 1683, Abraham Wriggles at Halifax on November 28th 1723, and Jane Rickle at Thorganby on July 26th 1820.

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