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Prindle History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Prindle History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland
England

In the ancient Scottish-English border region, the ancestors of the name Prindle lived among the Boernician clans and families. They lived in a place near Stow Roxburghshire, called Hopringle or Pringle. As such, Prindle is a habitation name, a category of surnames that were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. The place name comes from the Old English word hop which referred to an "enclosed valley," and Prjónn, an Old Norse name comprised of components which mean peg and ravine. Thus, the original bearer of the surname came from an area noted for an enclosed valley or a ravine.

However some sources presume the name to be derived from "pilgrim," as "they bear in their arms the escallop shells or badges of pilgrims to the Holy Land." 1 2

Early Origins of the Prindle family

The surname Prindle was first found in Roxburghshire, where the first Chief on record was Robert de Hoppryngil who witnessed a deed by King Alexander III of Scotland in 1250 A.D. Forty-six years later, Ellys Obringkel was Bishop of St. Andrews, and rendered homage to King Edward I of England on his brief conquest of Scotland in 1296. His seal bore a hunting horn. About this time they acquired the Clan territories near Stow and they became close allies of the Black Douglases. 3

"The little silver coin called a pringle, formerly minted in Scotland, and of about the value of an English penny, may have derived its name from one of this family." 4

Early History of the Prindle family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Prindle research. Another 426 words (30 lines of text) covering the years 1200, 1368, 1406, 1450, 1455, 1485, 1513, 1568, 1580, 1625, 1626, 1628, 1631, 1664, 1667, 1689, 1736 and 1976 are included under the topic Early Prindle History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Prindle Spelling Variations

Since medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, and since there were no consistent rules for the translation of rules from Gaelic to English, spelling variations are extremely common in Boernician names of this vintage. Prindle has been spelled Pringle, Pringell, Prindle, Hopringle and others.

Early Notables of the Prindle family

Notable among the family at this time was George Pringle (1631-1689), of Torwoodlee, eldest son of James Pringle of Torwoodlee. The Pringles of Torwoodlee, Selkirkshire, are descended from the Pringles of Snailholm, Roxburghshire, the first of the name being George, son of William Pringle of Snailholm who was killed at Flodden in 1513. This George Pringle was murdered in his own house by a party of Liddesdale reivers in 1568. 5Walter Pringle (1625-1667), of Greenknowe, Berwickshire, Scottish Covenanter, was the third son of Robert Pringle, first of Stitchel, Roxburghshire. The Pringles of Stitchel were descended from the Hop Pringles of Craiglatch...
Another 124 words (9 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Prindle Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Prindle Ranking

In the United States, the name Prindle is the 9,405^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 6

Migration of the Prindle family to Ireland

Some of the Prindle family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 35 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Prindle migration to the United States +

Many of the Boernician-Scottish families who crossed the Atlantic settled along the eastern seaboard in communities that would become the backbone of the emerging nations of the United States and Canada. In the War of Independence, American families that remained loyal to the Crown moved north into Canada and became known as United Empire Loyalists. The ancestral culture of all of these proud Scottish families remains alive in North America in the 20th century through Clan societies and highland games. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Prindle or a variant listed above:

Prindle Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Allan Prindle, aged 28, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1776 7

Prindle Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Peter B Prindle, who landed in Connecticut in 1812 7
Jonah Prindle, who settled in New Haven Conn. in 1823
P R Prindle, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1851 7

Prindle migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Prindle Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Mr. Joel Prindle Sr., U.E. who settled in Canada c. 1784 8
Mr. Timothy Prindle U.E., (Pringle) who settled in Fredericksburgh [Greater Napanee], Ontario c. 1784 8
Mr. Timothy Prindle Sr., U.E., (Pringle) who settled in Canada c. 1784 8
Dr. Prindle U.E. who settled in Fredericksburgh [Greater Napanee], Ontario c. 1786 he served in the King's Rangers 8
Mr. Joseph Prindle U.E. who settled in Fredericksburgh [Greater Napanee], Ontario c. 1786 he served in the King's Rangers 8
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Prindle (post 1700) +

Eric Prindle (b. 1976), American Heavyweight mixed martial artist who last competed in 2018, Bellator Season Five Heavyweight Tournament Winner
Edwin J. Prindle (1868-1948), American early developer of the Amerian patent law system
Cyrus Prindle (1800-1885), American Abolitionist, one of the founders of the Wesleyan church of America
Elizur H. Prindle (1829-1890), American politician, U.S. Representative from New York
Michael John Prindle (b. 1963), American former NFL placekicker

Citations +

Sims, Clifford Stanley The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames. 1862. Print.
Dixon, Bernard Homer, Surnames. London: John Wilson and son, 1857. Print
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X