Riddell
A Scottish surname usually taken from a place name, especially the ancient lands of Riddell in Roxburghshire.
The #6,484 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,966 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Riddell is generally treated as a locational surname, referring to the lands of Riddell in the parish of Lilliesleaf, Roxburghshire. Older writers linked the place name to an earlier form related to a hill or clearing, though the exact origin is not fully secure. Some 19th-century sources also suggested a connection with Yorkshire place-names called Ryedales, but the Scottish place-name explanation is the standard one in these excerpts.
History
The name is closely associated with an old Scottish family 'of that Ilk' and appears in medieval records at an early date. Lower notes that the family tradition was very ancient, while documentary evidence reaches back to the 12th century. The surname later spread beyond Scotland and into England, Ireland, and overseas; Irish forms such as Rideal were treated as variants in older scholarship.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One older source says the earliest Scottish charter it knew of named Riddell among the very few surnames recorded there.
From the historical record
“Domesday. RIDDELL. Of that Ilk, in the parish of Lilliesleaf, co. Roxburgh. There is a tradition of great antiquity, ascending to the VII. or VIII. century. See Lay of the Last Minstrel, notes — but documentary evidence goes back to the XII. only. Richard Basset, justiciar of England, temp. Hen. L, married the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom