This unusual and intriguing name is of either Anglo-Saxon or Old Scandinavian origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the village of Wrangle, situated near Boston in Lincolnshire. The place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Werangle", as "Wrangl, Wrengl'" in the Lincolnshire Assize Court Rolls of 1202, and appears as "Wrangle" in the 1212 Book of Fees of the county. The placename is thought to be the ancient name of a stream that has now disappeared, since Wrangle is situated in old fenland; the name derives from either the Olde English pre 7th Century adjective "wrang", or the Old Scandinavian "vrangr", both meaning "bent, crooked". There is a Norwegian stream-name, "Rangla", and a Norwegian dialect term "vrengjell", denoting a twisted tree. Locational surnames, such as this, were used particularly as a means of identification by those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere; regional dialectal differences often led to variant forms of the original name, which in this instance can be found as Wrangle, Rangall, Rangell and Rangle. Examples of the name from Lincolnshire Church Registers include: the christening of Dorythye, daughter of Thomas Wrangle, on June 29th 1568, at Great Carlton, and the marriage of Jeffrey Wrangle and Elizabeth Tyler, in Boston, on July 12th 1591. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Andreas Wrangle, which was dated January 20th 1561, christened in Boston, Lincolnshire, 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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