Tolle
A surname with several possible roots, including a Germanic nickname or a shortened form of an older given name.
The #9,155 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,629 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is not securely explained from the excerpts, and the 19th-century sources mention it only incidentally. It may be related to a Germanic or French name element such as Toll-, Tolle-, or a shortened personal name, rather than to a single clear occupational or place-name source. In some traditions it is treated as part of a wider cluster of similar surnames built from older given names or nickname forms.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in more than one spelling family, which makes a single origin hard to prove. It is also found as part of longer surnames such as Tollemache, suggesting that some instances may belong to separate lineages. Modern bearers in the United States likely descend from multiple unrelated branches.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The sources show Tolle cropping up alongside a number of similar surnames, which is a clue that medieval spelling variation may have produced several unrelated families with near-identical forms.
From the historical record
“Oxf. Tammadge, Tammage. See Tolle¬ mache Tampen, Tampin, Tamplin. See Tamblyn”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)