This intriguing name is of English origin and is locational from places so called in the West Riding of Yorkshire, e.g. Kirk and Long, Sandall, and Sandal Magna. The former is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Sandala' with a subsequent recording in the early Yorkshire Charters of 1148 as 'Sandhala', while the latter, although identical in the Domesday Book has a later recording as 'Le Sandehale' in the 'Inquisitions Miscellaneous' of 1318. The derivations of all of these places are the same and are from the Olde English pre 7th Century 'sand', meaning a sandbank or sandy soil, with the Olde English 'hall', land in a corner formed by a bend in the river. During the Middle Ages it became common for people to migrate from their birth place to seek work, and they would often adopt the village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in the wide dispersal of the name. One Johannes Sandall is recorded in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1379. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter de Sandal, which was dated 1188, in the Chartulary of Whalley Abbey, Lancashire, during the reign of King Henry 11, known as the Builder of Churches, 1154 - 1189. 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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