This interesting and unusual surname is a transposed form of the surname Edgell, which is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is from the Old English pre 7th Century personal name "Ecgwulf". The personal name is derived from the Old English "ecg", a sword and "wulf", a wolf, thus "sword-wolf"; Ecgwulf was a common Old English name. The name development since 1275 (see below) includes the following: William Eggel(l) (1278, Essex), Robert Eggolfe (1327, Worcestershire) and William Eggculf (1327, Worcestershire). The modern transposed forms of the name are Egdell, Egdal, Egdeel and Egdale. Among the sample recordings in Northumberland are the christening of Edward, son of George and Alice Egdell, on April 26th 1732 at Alnwick, and the marriage of Robert Egdell and Mary Dobson on June 1st 1762 at Warkworth. George Egdell married Elizabeth Hunter on November 4th 1775 at Alnwick, Northumberland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Roger Eggolf, which was dated 1275, in the "Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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