Martindale
A habitational surname meaning “from Martindale,” a place-name in Westmorland, England.
The #5,040 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,347 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Martindale is a habitational surname taken from the place called Martindale in Westmorland, now Cumbria. The name is usually explained as meaning “Martin’s valley,” from the personal name Martin plus Old English dale, “valley.” Some older sources also connect it with Marton or treat forms like Markendale as later corruptions or variants of the same local name.
History
The surname appears in English records as a local name for people who came from Martindale in Westmorland. Nineteenth-century surname writers especially associated it with that chapelry, and noted related spellings such as Markendale. The name later spread beyond northern England and is now found in Britain, North America, and elsewhere.
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Fun fact
Early surname dictionaries sometimes discussed Martindale alongside other place-based names ending in -dale, highlighting how often English surnames were built from landscape features.
From the historical record
“MARTINDALE (Eng.) Bel. to Martindale, for Martondale : v. Marton, and-|- O.E.dml. MARTINEAU, v. the Appendix of Foreign Names [dim. suff. -eau, earlier -el, Lat. -ell-us] MARTINET, v. the Appendix of Foreign Names [dim. suff. -et]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)