Ennals Family History

Presumably a variant of the now extinct surname Ennall + post-medieval excrescent -s. Parish registers record entries such as Thomasyn Ennell 1604 in IGI (Tedburn Saint Mary, Devon), Edmund Ennall 1616 in IGI (Saint Giles Cripplegate, London), and Temperance Hennal 1705 in IGI (Belaugh, Norfolk).

Ennall is likely to be a reduced form of the well-used Middle English personal name Ernold (see Arnold) or possibly the rarer Ernulf (Old English Earnwulf, Old Scandinavian Arnulfr, or of Continental Germanic Arnulf).

Compare Walter Ernald 1338–9 in Norwich Freemen (Ranworth, Norfolk), Johannes Ernald 1379 in Poll Tax (North Elmham, Norfolk), Nicholaus Ernolf 1381 in Poll Tax (Witton, Norfolk), and Edward Arnold 1561 in IGI (Saint Giles Cripplegate, London).

Assimilation of -r- to the following -n- and loss of final -d or -f would be quite normal in later Middle English and naturally result in spellings like Ennal and Ennel.

Compare Annal.