Tempel History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The ancient roots of the Tempel family name are in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The name Tempel comes from when the family lived in an area that was close to the temple. Tempel is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. During the Middle Ages, as society became more complex, individuals needed a way to be distinguishable from others. Toponymic surnames were developed as a result of this need. Various features in the landscape or area were used to distinguish people from one another. In this case the original bearers of the surname Tempel were named due to their close proximity to the temple or the place of worship.

Early Origins of the Tempel family

The surname Tempel was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times, and said to be descended from Leofric, the Saxon Earl of Chester, who died in 1057 before the Conquest. He left issue, Algar, Earl of Mercia and East Anglia, and the son Henry who obtained land from Robert, Earl of Leicester in the form of the Manor of Temple in Leicestershire. 1 One line of this name claim Burton Dassett, Warwickshire as their ancestral home.

Much father to the south and west, we found this interesting note about the parish of Temple, Cornwall. "However applicable the name of this parish might have been to it in former years, nothing can be more injudicious than its present appropriation, since the whole district contains no place of worship whatever, and only three cottages in which human beings reside. The manor and church of Temple belonged originally to the Knights Templars, to whom were given many peculiar privileges. This order was founded in the year 1118, when Godfrey de St. Omer, Hugh de Pagans, and several others offered their services to Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, to defend the pilgrims travelling thither from robbery and violence. Baldwin, to reward their services, bestowed upon them a house near the Temple, in consequence of which they were called Knights Templars. When the Knights Templars and their retinue deserted the place, their tenants, not having their possessions, followed their example. Their chapel was then suffered to fall into ruin." 2

Early History of the Tempel family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tempel research. Another 100 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1555, 1567, 1599, 1600, 1606, 1611, 1613, 1627, 1628, 1634, 1637, 1641, 1645, 1653, 1657, 1663, 1669, 1670, 1674, 1677, 1680, 1697, 1699, 1718 and 1749 are included under the topic Early Tempel History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tempel Spelling Variations

One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Tempel has appeared include Temple, Tempell, Temples and others.

Early Notables of the Tempel family

Distinguished members of the family include Sir Thomas Temple (1567- ca. 1637), English landowner and Member of Parliament, created 1st Baronet Temple of Stowe, Buckinghamshire in 1611; Peter Temple (ca. 1599-1663) of Temple Hall, an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1645 and 1653, one of the Regicides of King Charles I; James Temple (1606-1680), a puritan and English Civil War soldier from Rochester, Kent who...
Another 70 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Tempel Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Tempel family to Ireland

Some of the Tempel family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 103 words (7 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tempel migration to the United States +

At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Tempel arrived in North America very early:

Tempel Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Christina Tempel, who settled in Philadelphia in 1772
John Lorentz Tempel, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1773 3
Christina Tempel, aged 32, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1792 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Tempel (post 1700) +

Amanda Tempel, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Minnesota, 2004
Sylke Tempel (1963-2017), German author and journalist, editor-in-chief of the foreign policy magazine Internationale Politik since 2008
Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (1821-1889), German astronomer who discovered Tempel 1, a periodic comet that orbits the Sun every 5.5 years and Tempel 2, another comet in our solar system

The Tempel Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Templa quam dilecta
Motto Translation: Temples, how beloved.

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Hutchins, Fortescue, The History of Cornwall, from the Earliest Records and Traditions to the Present Time. London: William Penaluna, 1824. Print
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)