Suttle
Usually a name for someone from Soothill in West Yorkshire, though it was sometimes also linked with the word subtle.
The #9,730 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 92,633 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest explanation is locational: Suttle is a reduced form of Soothill, a place-name in Yorkshire meaning “south hill,” from Old English elements for south and hill. Historical spellings show the name moving through forms such as Sutill and Suttill. A second, less certain line of explanation connected it with Middle English subtle, from Anglo-French and ultimately Latin subtilis, meaning “fine,” “clever,” or “cunning.”
History
Early surname scholarship places the name chiefly in the Dewsbury area of West Yorkshire, near Soothill. That local origin fits the historical concentration of the surname in northern England. Some later writers also noted that older spellings could overlap with or be influenced by the word subtle, but this is usually treated as a secondary or less likely explanation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source explicitly says the surname was chiefly found near the township of Soothill in West Yorkshire.
From the historical record
“SUTTILLI (Eng.) Dweller at the South SUTTLE ; Hill [O.E. siiS hyll; with inter- dentalism lost through Scand. influence : cp. Suttepby] Soothill, W. Yorks, was Sutill in the 14th cent. , (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Subtle, Clever, Cun- ning [A.-Fr. sotil, etc. ; Lat. subtilis, fine,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)