| ![Show Contents]() Tufnell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England Tufnell is an ancient Norman name that arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Tufnell family lived in Essex, at Tufnell. Early Origins of the Tufnell familyThe surname Tufnell was first found in Essex where they held a family seat. Little is known of the early origins of this name but the proposition that it is derived from 'tough nail' cannot be accepted and is somewhat typical of the attitude of Victorian historians at a loss to dig deeper than their own fertile imaginations. Since we believe the name to have been originally Tuffnall, the suffixes 'all' and 'ell'indicate a Norman origin and it may point to an early Norman settler about the time of the Conquest in 1066 A.D. "In the XVII. century this name was spelt Tufnaile, and I am therefore rather inclined to take it au pied de la lettre (or rather at the end of the finger) and to consider "tough nail" as its etymon." 1 Early History of the Tufnell familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tufnell research. Another 175 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1580, 1640, 1820, 1823 and 1924 are included under the topic Early Tufnell History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Tufnell Spelling VariationsNorman surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. The frequent changes in surnames are largely due to the fact that the Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules. The introduction of Norman French to England, as well as the official court languages of Latin and French, also had pronounced influences on the spelling of surnames. Since medieval scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings. The name has been spelled Tuffnel, Tuffnell, Tuffnall, Tuffnal, Toughnell, Toughnall, Toughnel, Toffnel, Toffnall, Tufnaile and many more. Early Notables of the Tufnell familyMore information is included under the topic Early Tufnell Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Tufnell familyMany English families emigrated to North American colonies in order to escape the political chaos in Britain at this time. Unfortunately, many English families made the trip to the New World under extremely harsh conditions. Overcrowding on the ships caused the majority of the immigrants to arrive diseased, famished, and destitute from the long journey across the stormy Atlantic. Despite these hardships, many of the families prospered and went on to make invaluable contributions to the development of the cultures of the United States and Canada. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Tufnell or a variant listed above: John Tuffnell who settled in Virginia in 1650; James Tuffnell landed in North America in 1775; James Tuffnal landed in America in the same year.
| Contemporary Notables of the name Tufnell (post 1700) | + |
- Thomas Jolliffe Tufnell (1819-1885), English surgeon, fifth son of John Charles Tufnell, Lieutenant-Ccolonel of the Middlesex militia
- Henry Tufnell (1805-1854), English politician, born at Chichester, the eldest son of William Tufnell of Chichester (1769–1809)
- Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
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