Gamble Surname - Origin of the
Surname
This appeared in the Gamble Family History prepared by Peter H Gamble
Melbourne Australia
Origin of the Name
P.H. Reaney, in his book "The Origin of English Surnames" makes
the following comments:
All surnames, it will be found, will fall into one or other of four
classes:
- 1. Local Surnames
- 2. Surnames of Relationship
- 3. Surnames of Occupation or Office
- 4. Nicknames.
Within these groups there is considerable overlapping.
The Norwegian invasions of England took place in the late 800's,
with settlement taking place generally in the north of England. The
name Gamble derives from the Old Norse "gamall" meaning "old" and
would have originated around this time. The Old Danish and Old Swedish
forms are similar, "gamal". There are a number of variants
from this common root, including Gambell, Gammel and Gamel.
P.H. Reaney continues:
The Scandinavians, unlike the Anglo Saxons and the continental
Germans, had a habit of using the same personal-name in different
generations and branches of the same family. ..... The result of
this custom was that in time there were so many men bearing the
same name that it was found necessary to distinguish them by a
nickname or byname descriptive of some physical characteristic,
some habit or a reference to a particular incident. Many of these
bynames were innocuous, some complimentary, others derogatory,
characteristic of the gross humour and acute realism of the Vikings.
So the name derives from a Scandinavian byname and according
to P.H. Reaney falls into the class of "Surnames of Relationship".
The name occurs frequently in the "Doomsday Book", one
example being the information on "Gamel Baret, a Yorkshire
landowner".
Family Tree Magazine November 1996
In an article on Emigration from Britain by John Titford he used Gamble
as an example entry from the following book.E R Searry's Family names
of the Island of Newfoundland
Gamble: A surname of England and Ireland, from old Norse "Gamall".
Old Danish, Old Swedish "Gamal" - old. (Reaney, MacLysaght)
Traced by Guppy in Norfolk and by MacLysaght in Ulster and Co Cork.
In Newfoundland:
Early instances: Thomas of Carbonear 1832 (" Newfoundlander" 8
November 1832); Robert Gambol, Co Waterford, of Fogo, 1818 (Nfld Archives
KCRC); Thomas Gamble, of Harbour Grace Parish, 1834 (Nfld Archives HGRC);
Sarah from Newry (Co Down), married at St John's 1850 ( DPHW 26D ); John
of Lion's Den (Twillingate district), 1871 (Lovell).
Modern status: Rare, at Boyd's Cove (Twillingate district) and Badger
(Electors 1955).
Place Names: Gamble's Tickle (Labrador)
Further Research
The table below shows the number of exact spelling Gambles listed on
the 1881 Census by Surname.
- Research by Peter N Gamble, Birmingham, England, September 1997.
- Source :- Birmingham Central Library Genealogical Section.
My research shows the greatest concentration of Gambles seems to
have been have been Leicestershire and its neighboring counties.
The 1881 census shows very few of the Leicestershire Gambles were
born outside of the county. Yorkshire has a significant number from
the counties to the south, and Middlesex has significant numbers
born in the counties to the north.
Distribution of Gamble's from 1881 Census Sorted
by number in county
| CCC |
County |
Population |
Gamble |
per 100K |
| LEI |
Leicestershire |
321,258 |
815 |
254 |
| YKS |
Yorkshire |
2,886,564 |
705 |
24 |
| MDX |
Middlesex |
2,920,485 |
320 |
11 |
| NTT |
Nottinghamshire |
391,815 |
300 |
77 |
| LAN |
Lancashire |
3,454,441 |
273 |
8 |
| NFK |
Norfolk |
444,749 |
250 |
56 |
| DBY |
Derbyshire |
461,914 |
210 |
45 |
| WAR |
Warwickshire |
737,339 |
150 |
20 |
| SRY |
Surrey |
1,436,899 |
111 |
8 |
| NTH |
Northamptonshire |
272,555 |
110 |
40 |
| STS |
Staffordshire |
981,013 |
102 |
10 |
Distribution of Gamble's from 1881 Census Sorted by per 100,000 of population
| CCC |
County |
Population |
Gamble |
per 100K |
| LEI |
Leicestershire |
321,258 |
815 |
254 |
| NTT |
Nottinghamshire |
391,815 |
300 |
77 |
| RUT |
Rutland |
21,434 |
16 |
75 |
| NFK |
Norfolk |
444,749 |
250 |
56 |
| DBY |
Derbyshire |
461,914 |
210 |
45 |
| NTH |
Northamptonshire |
272,555 |
110 |
40 |
| YKS |
Yorkshire |
2,886,564 |
705 |
24 |
| WAR |
Warwickshire |
737,339 |
150 |
20 |
A full Distribution List and map is on the Distribution page
listing the number of Gambles in each county of England and Wales from
1881 Census.
Last Updated on by Peter
Gamble |