Ringle History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland
England

The history of the Ringle family begins in the Boernician tribes of ancient Scotland. The Ringle family lived in a place near Stow Roxburghshire, called Hopringle or Pringle. As such, Ringle 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 Ringle family

The surname Ringle 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 Ringle family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ringle 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 Ringle History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ringle Spelling Variations

Before the first dictionaries and printing presses went into use in the last few hundred years, spelling, particularly of names, was a largely intuitive matter. Consequently, many spelling variations occur in even the simplest names from the Middle Ages. Ringle has been spelled Pringle, Pringell, Prindle, Hopringle and others.

Early Notables of the Ringle 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 o...
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 Ho...
Sir Walter Pringle (1664-1736), Lord Newhall was a Scottish judge, was second son of Sir Robert Pringle, 1st Baronet of Stitchel

Migration of the Ringle family to Ireland

Some of the Ringle 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.

Ringle migration to the United States +

The east coasts of the United States and Canada are still populated by many of the descendents of the Boernician-Scottish families who made that great crossing. They distributed themselves evenly when they first arrived, but at the time of the War of Independence those who remained loyal to England went north to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. This century, many of their ancestors have recovered their past heritage through highland games and other Scottish functions in North America. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that many immigrants bearing the name Ringle or a variant listed above:

Ringle Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Andrew Ringle, who landed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 1849 5
Jacob Ringle, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1856 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Ringle (post 1700) +

Oscar L. Ringle, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at Wausau, Wisconsin, 1937-45 6
Joshua Ringle, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Jersey, 1948 (alternate), 1952, 1956 6
John Ringle Jr., American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Wisconsin, 1936, 1940 6
Bartholomew Ringle (1814-1881), American politician, Mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, 1876-77 6

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.
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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 8) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html