Thrale/Thrall history

Name meaning and variations

Meaning

Originating from the:

• old English term 'præl' or
• old Norse term 'præll'

Meaning a:

• serf
• villein or
• bondman

These were all types of serfs who were required to work three or four days a week for the Lord of the Manor.¹

Spelling

The earliest known spellings are¹:

• John Thral in the 1309 Subsidy Rolls for Bedfordshire; and
• William le Thral in the 1332 Subsidy Rolls for Sussex.

However, since at least the 1600s, records show the principal spelling as Thrale. Derivatives are speculated to have arisen mainly through non-standardised spellings of the same spoken surname, including:

• Thrall
• Thralls
• Thral
• Trayle
• Thrawl.

Common forenames

The most common Thrale male forenames are:

• Ralph;
• Thomas;
• John; and
• William.

Of the 15 direct male ancestors of David Thrale - owner of this website:

• five were called Thomas;
• three were called Richard;
• two were called Robert; and
• one was called:
  • Ralph;
  • Kenneth;
  • Herbert; and
  • John.

Other common Thrale forenames include:

• Richard;
• Alban;
• Norman; and
• Peter.

Female genealogical records are less readily available. However, common Thrale female forenames include:

• Elizabeth;
• Anne;
• Sarah; and
• Mary.

Footnotes

1. The Origins of English Surname. Percy Hide Reaney and Richard Middlewood Wilson. pp. 445 Fifth impression 1979. ISBN 0 7100 0353 6. ↩︎