ORIGIN AND CHANGES OF SURNAMES.
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names of families whose ancestors were early settled in New England, are now
spelled as they were when introduced into the colonies; and if such families
could trace their names to an early period in English history, they would
undoubtedly find that their ancestors were known by names quite unlike those
borne by the early American generations. In the "old English" all surnames
now spelt with the letter i were originally written with a y, as in Chamberlayne
and Rydleigh or Rydley.
In the early New England Colonies representatives of several nationalities,
English, Scotch, Irish, French, and Scandinavians, were constantly associated,
and each, having a pronunciation peculiar to himself, found it necessary to
accommodate his language to the understanding of others; in consequence of
this modification, constantly carried on, names of men and things in a short
time were pronounced quite differently from what they were originally written.
As the early settlers had few advantages for acquiring even a primary education,
and but few occasions to write their names, justices, clerks, and clergy, who
used the pen, wrote surnames as they heard them spoken, following each pro-
nunciation in their spelling as closely as they could: The rising generations,
who had a better education, by consulting the records of towns and churches,
learned to spell their names as they found those of their ancestors written, and
in a few years families were known by surnames very dissimilar to those borne
by their progenitors.
With all the mutations through which the surnames used by the various
branches of our clan have passed, it is interesting to observe that a marked
resemblance has been preserved in the orthography and the significance of them
all. The original form seems to have been derived from a dale or dell where
rye was cultivated, and properly written would be Ryedale or Ryedell. Dale
and dell are synonamous names, as
"In dales and dells concealed from mortal sight."
- as the name is always pro-
The change from Ryedale and Riddell to Riddle, -
nounced by Scotchmen, — has not caused a loss of the full meaning of the original,
as a riddle was an instrument by which rye and other grains were winnowed
and cleansed; and the change to Ridler and Riddler, makes that form denote one
who winnows grain with a riddle or seive. The old English word Red or Rid,
signifies to cleanse or drive out, as, "I will rid my fields of evil beasts."
The ancient word, leigh and ley, represented a field or meadow, a low piece
of ground, and connected with rid would, in its proper spelling, be Cleared
field or Cleanland. If the surname Ridleigh or Ridley was derived from this
source, the meaning resembles that of the original Norman name of Ryedale.
But if what has been called reeds in the ancient arms of the Ridleys of Willi-
moteswick, should prove to be rye instead, — which seems quite probable, — then
the full name Ridleigh would be Ryefield or Ryeland, which is the exact equiv-
alent of Ryedale or Ryedell. The same is true of the surname Ridland, as now
used by the branch of the family in Sandsting, Shetland Isles. The territorial
or local and agricultural significance of the surname has never been lost by the
many changes in spelling during thirty generations of the family.
In one ancient coat-of-arms borne by a branch of the Ryedale family from
Normandy, there was a plough, and some heralds represent the ox in the ancient
arms of Ridley, as drawing a plough through reeds in a field; this fact
strengthens the claim to relationship between the two families.
