Art by Betmatrho in this Red-Thread Genealogy section for the 'Lost Tribes of Israel' may be freely used for personal use.
BALL


Ball - English Coat of Arms
ENGLISH ORIGINS
Spelling variations include: Ball, Balle, Balls, Balders and others.

First found in Cheshire, where they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: George Ball who settled in St. Christopher in 1635; Goodwife Ball settled in Virginia in 1623; Allen Ball settled in New Haven Conn. in 1630; Eliza Ball settled in Virginia in 1651.
The ancient history of the name BALL dates back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. It was a name given to a person who was bald, deriving its origin from the Old English word 'Bealla', which meant bald. The surname may also refer to someone who had a rotund or stocky stature.

Spelling variations include: Ball, Balle, Balls, Balders and others.

Coat of Arms:
A silver shield with a black lion rampant holding a fireball, proper.

Crest:
A hand and arm in mail, grasping a fireball.

Motto: Fulcrum dignitatis virtus.

Motto Translated: Virtue is the support of dignity


Ball - French Coat of Arms

FRENCH ORIGINS

Coat of Arms: A white shield with three ermine spots.

Crest: Description not available


The BALL name comes from that Medieval landscape of northwestern France known as Brittany. The name BALL was originally derived from the family having lived in Brittany, where this distinguished family was established from ancient times.

Spelling variations include: Bal, Balle, Ball, Balard, Balart, Baland, Balland, Balet, Ballet, Ballot, Balot, Ballon, Balon, Ballou and many more.

First found in Brittany, where this distinguished family was established from ancient times.


First found in Brittany, where this distinguished family was established from ancient times.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Thomas Bal, who was established in Barbados in 1678. Louis Balard, also known as Latour, son of Pierre and Sébastienne Pilin, diocese d'Ausion, who died in 1732 in Quebec.
Name: Ball, Margaret
Birth - Death: ca. 1515-ca. 1584
Source Citation:

    * Women of Ireland. A biographic dictionary. By Kit O'Ceirin and Cyril O'Ceirin. Minneapolis: Irish Books and Media, 1996. (WomIre)

Name: Ball, Nathanael
Birth - Death: 1623-1681
Source Citation:

    * The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). (DcNaB)
    * The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). Corrigenda begins on page 1457. (DcNaB C)
Name: Ball, Peter
Birth - Death: d1675
Source Citation:

    * The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). (DcNaB)

Name: Ball, Thomas
Birth - Death: 1590-1659
Source Citation:

    * Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature. British and American authors living and deceased from the earliest accounts to the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. Three volumes. By S. Austin Allibone. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1858-1871. (Alli)
    * The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). (DcNaB)
* The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). Corrigenda begins on page 1457. (DcNaB C)
The full mantle consists of the shield displaying the arms that was given to the person bearing this surname; a banner with surname; a helmet; and family crest [if known]. See a sample of full mantle by - at right. Normally the crest is displayed atop the helmet. To order a full mantle with coat of arms and family crest click here
sample coat of arms [full]
Sample Coat of Arms - Full

Name: Ball, William
Birth - Death: d1690
Source Citation:

    * The Dictionary of National Biography. The Concise Dictionary. Part 1, From the beginnings to 1900. London: Oxford University Press, 1953. Contains abstracts of the biographies found in The Dictionary of National Biography (21 volumes, New York: Macmillan Co.; London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1908). (DcNaB)

Name: Ball Shem-Tob
Birth - Death: 1700?-1760
Source Citation:

    * Lutheran Cyclopedia. Revised edition. Edited by Erwin L. Lueker. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1975. (LuthC)
Ball Surname meaning:

   1. English: nickname for a short, fat person, from Middle English bal(le) ‘ball’ (Old English ball, Old Norse b{o,}llr).
   2. English: topographic name for someone who lived on or by a knoll or rounded hill, from the same Middle English word, bal(le), used in this sense.
   3. English: from the Old Norse personal name Balle, derived either from ballr ‘dangerous’ or b{o,}llr ‘ball’.
   4. South German: from Middle High German bal ‘ball’, possibly applied as a metonymic occupational name for a juggler, or a habitational name from a place so named in the Rhine area.
   5. Dutch and German: short form of any of various Germanic personal names formed with the element bald (see Bald).

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
HOME

Family Surname Forum:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/ball

RETURN TO
FEATURED SURNAMES
FOR THE RED-THREAD
'LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL'