Tisdale
An English surname meaning someone from Teesdale, the valley of the River Tees.
The #3,473 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 29,996 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tisdale is a locational surname from Teesdale, the valley of the River Tees in northern England. Older writers treated Tisdale and Tisdall as spellings of the same name, and the first element points to the river name Tees plus dale, meaning 'valley.' In effect, the name means 'person from Teesdale' or 'of the Tees valley.'
History
The surname appears in English records in several spellings, including Tisdale, Tisdall, and Teasdale. It spread beyond northern England and is found later in London and in North American records, as with many English place-based surnames. Nineteenth-century surname scholars consistently linked it to Teesdale rather than to a personal name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Teesdale is still the name of a scenic river valley in northern England, so the surname is one of those that preserves a real place-name in everyday use.
From the historical record
“fortified place] TISDALE ] TISDALL \ = Teesdale, q.v. TISDELL TISSINGTON (Eng.) Bel. to Tissington (Derby), 13th cent. Tissinglon, Domesday Tizinctun, A. - Sax. *Tysinga-tun = the Estate of the Tysa Family [for the pers. name see under Tisbury, and -|- -inga, genit. pi. of the fil. suft. -ing + tiin,”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)