This ancient and distinguished surname, having long associations with the south-western English counties of Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset, and with Yorkshire in the north, has two distinct possible sources, each with its own history and derivation. Firstly, Arundel may be of
Norman-French origin, introduced by the
Normans in the wake of the
Conquest of 1066, and a
nickname for someone thought to resemble a swallow, from the
Old French "(h)arondel", a
diminutive of "arond", swallow. The surname from this source has the distinction of being first recorded in the
Domesday Book (see below), and further early examples include: Robert Arundel (Dorset, 1130), and Osbert Arundel, Harundel (Yorkshire, 1154). Arundel may also be of
Anglo-Saxon origin, and a
locational name from a Sussex
parish thus called, recorded as "Harundel" in the Domesday Book, and so named from the
Olde English pre 7th Century "harhun-dell", valley of the hoarhound flower. Early locational surnames include: John
de Arundell (Cornwall, 1292), and Robert de Arundell (Sussex, 1332). The three principal
Cornish families of the name settled there from the early 13th Century, belong to Lanherne, Trerice and Menadarva. The name has also been continuously associated with the
Munster county of Cork since the end of the 13th Century when Robert de Arundel was coroner of Ibawn. Arundel Mills, a village in south County Cork, locates the family. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Rogerius Arundel or Harundel, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Dorset and Somerset, during the reign of King William 1, known as "William the Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. 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.