The Wardell Family Page
Maintained by Charles Wardell

 

Surname Variants

There are many reports about name changes and alternative spellings.
Please send me your comments. I shall update this list as information becomes available.

Comments and Feedback

Hugh Ainsley hugh@hugh.astra.co.uk writes:

I can confirm both the ones to which you refer, along with the probables WADELL and WARDALE, both of which I have seen in WARDELL areas, without checking on them.

WARDLE and WARDALL are definite alternatives in my own tree, and there is a WADDELL in the same village and I am certain of the same family. Remember that spelling was - should we say - an optional extra for our ancestors - we are well advised ro record virtually anything thats similar, because it may have got spelt or recorded wrong - and also remember the effect of say a broad Geordie accent on things - they can change rather drastically!

Tammy Wardell-Mattingly Mirajay29@aol.com writes:

My family name has gone through a series of name mutations through one generation alone.....My grandfather was born Isom Logan Waddle in 1895 (1900 census records show this spelling in Hart County,Kentucky). Somewhere during his life he changed the name to Logan James Waddell....when he divorced his 1st wife he took on the Wardell last name.. My grandfather died in dec of 1945 in Kenton County,Ky and was buried under the name of Logan James Wardell. (death record can be verified in the Kentucky vital Records) My father was born Norris Doll Waddell...when he entered grade school he entered under the name of Dallas N. Wardell...my father had even obtained a social security card under this name...with 4 other siblings only one of them still carries the Waddell surname...However im still proud even though its not through a lineage anywhere to be a Wardell.....Sincerely,
Tammy Wardell-Mattingly

Origin and Meaning

The Society of Genealogists I have not yet come across convincing evidence of the etymology of our name. It is concievable that the names of different Wardell lines originally had different meanings. See:

The relevance of surnames in genealogy by The Society of Genealogists

Family tradition suggests that the meaning of Wardell of the Yorkshire line might have been: War - Dale

What's In a Name?
[Pity: clanhuston.com seemst to have disappeared]
 		does not list a suggestion for Wardell but it explains Dale:

Dale is an English place name for the man who lived in the valley, from Middle English dale = dale, valley, from Old English doel and Old Norse dalr. It is also a name that described the man who emigrated from any of the several locations by that name.

Don Holzworth reports that in the case of Wardwell one possible explaination might be that the family was from Well, Lincolnshire and one was the Ward (watchman) of Well, hence Wardwell.

Michael Wardell quotes the WARDELL FAMILY HISTORY by J W Wardell:
  "For the last hundred years, members of this county Durham Family have held that their surname derives from the Dale of the Wear, because both the dale and the surname are subject to the same variations in spelling and because both Tyndale and Teasdale are surbames meaning the dales of Durham's two other rivers of Tyne and Tees."

He goes on to make the case for a small place on the river Wear (Werdelau) being the actual origin - it incidentally was a place where the body of St Cuthbert was rested by his monks on their travels in 995 AD before they took the body to Durham itself.

Bill Wardle of Galveston, Texas, reports:

[snip] I had been enquiring of people on the list concerning the origin of the name and have received one opinion from a Mr Kevin Wardle which you might wish to consider adding to the other theories on the site:
Kevin favors the view that the name originated from "ward of the hill", i.e. an ancient early warning system to detect barbarian raids. Certain people, perhaps families, would be encouraged to live on hilltops so they could sound the alarm when they saw something suspicious. Wardhill, then, according to this version, would be the original form of the name, later corrupted to Wardell, Wardle, etc. over time.
Personally, I favor the view currently expressed in your site, i.e. that Weardale is the original form of the name. I feel so because I have been collecting Wardle, Wardell, etc, names, events, dates and places for Durham and Northumberland for about 6 months now, from the IGI, census reports, and from messages sent other list members. As the name records go back gradually in time, the less frequent Wardle and Wardell become, while Weardale and Waredell become more frequent. [snip]

Mon, 3 Jun 2002 - Steve Wardell of London, England writes:

[snip] A few years ago my wifes grandmother showed me a book on Family names. It was quite old and was published by The Readers Digest. I never found the Wardell name in it but on checking Ward and Dell I found they both had the same meaning, which was "Dweller in the marsh" So perhaps two families from a similar area married and joined the names together. [snip]

I will be happy to include futher comments and suggestions that you send me.

Wardell
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