Tatnel History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Early Origins of the Tatnel family

The surname Tatnel was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the manor of Tattenhall. Recorded first as Tatenale in the Domesday Book of 1086, the place name literally means "nook of land of a man called Tata," from the Old English personal name + "halh." 1 2 By 1303, the village was known as Tatenhale 3

Today, Tattenhall is a village and civil parish, 8 miles south-east of Chester. Tatton Hall is a country house in Tatton Park near Knutsford, Cheshire. Tettenhall is a village in within the city of Wolverhampton, now in the West Midlands and was the site of The Battle of Tettenhall where forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Northumbrian Vikings on 5 August 910. 4

The parish of Tatenhill in the union of Burton-upon-Trent, N. division of the hundred of Offlow in Staffordshire may have been a possible origin of the family too. 4 5 This Anglo-Saxon parish dates back to 942 when it was recorded as Tatenhyll and had the same etymological origin as the Cheshire parish. 1

Early rolls give us a glimpse of the various spellings in use over the years. The Assize Rolls of Staffordshire includes an entry for Robert de Tatenhull in 1220 and later, the Subsidy Rolls for Suffolk lists Roger Tathall in 1524. 5

The source Earwaker's East Cheshire includes an entry for Thomas Tatnall, Cheshire, 1459 and the Wills at Chester lists Robert Tatnall, of Saighton, 1612. 6

Further to the north in Scotland, the name was "an English name probably from Tattenhall in the county of Chester. About 1180 William de Tatenhill witnessed a charter by Matthew Kyninmond, Bishop of Aberdeen, and about the same date a charter was granted him by the same bishop in which Tatenhill is described as 'homini nostro'. Willelmus de Brenneth dictus Tatenel who witnessed a charter by Hugh Herock, burgess of Elgin, in 1286, is probably the William de Tattenel who rendered homage in 1296." 7

Early History of the Tatnel family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tatnel research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1748 is included under the topic Early Tatnel History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tatnel 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 Tatnel has appeared include Tattenhall, Tatnall, Tatnell and others.

Early Notables of the Tatnel family

More information is included under the topic Early Tatnel Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tatnel 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 Tatnel arrived in North America very early:

Tatnel Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Thomas Tatnel, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1744 8

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
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)
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)