This unusual and interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called Troutsdale in the parish of Brompton, near Scarborough, in North Yorkshire. The place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Truzstal", and appears as "Trucedale" in 1314; it is named with the Olde English pre 7th Century elements "truht", trout, with "stall, steall", meaning variously "place, stable, pool in a river". Later pronunciation differences have modified the final element of the name to resemble the Olde English "dael", dale, valley. Locational surnames were used as a means of identification, especially by those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. The modern surname forms range from Trousdale and Trowsdale to Truesdale, Trowsdall and Trosdall. Examples from Yorkshire Church Registers include: John Trousdale (1585); Thomas Trowsdaile (1593); Dorithy Troysdall (1663); and Richard Trowesdayll (1666). The marriage of Bernardus Trowsdale and Elizabeth Atkinson was recorded on November 15th 1668, at Danby in Cleveland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alice Trosdall, which was dated April 25th 1577, christened in Kirkleatham, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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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