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The ancient roots of the Ringling family are found in the Scottish-English border region where the ancestors of the name Ringling lived among the people of the Boernician tribe. The Ringling family lived in a place near Stow Roxburghshire, called Hopringle or Pringle. As such, Ringling 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
"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
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ringling 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 Ringling History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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. Ringling has been spelled Pringle, Pringell, Prindle, Hopringle and others.
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. 5
Walter 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 Ringling Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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.
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 Ringling or a variant listed above: