This unusual and interesting name of English origin is a dialectual variant of the nickname surname 'Teale', which is the name of a small water - bird. The nickname would be given to a person considered to resemble the bird in some way, and the derivation is from the Middle English 'tele' teal (of uncertain origin). Two recordings of marriages in London are between one, Timothy Teall and Susannah Manekey on the 3rd March 1743 at St. Katherine by the Tower, and Robert Teall and Jane Strickland on the 9th November 1772 at Monken Hadley. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ralph Tele, which was dated 1201, Pipe Rolls, Nottinghamshire, during the reign of King John, 'Lackland', 1199 - 1216. 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.