Variant Spellings of Wrathall

There are several sources that give variant spellings for the surname Wrathall.
  1. The Burnsall/Conistone Parish Registers
    In Kenneth Ball's notes , which are excerpts of printed transcripts of these registers, we see the following frequency of variants: In the Burnsall register, the spelling first occurs as Wrathowe (1564-1595), although the variant Wrathall is also seen in this period. From 1599-1603, Wrathoo and Wraythoe are seen, but from 1612-1671, Wrathoe is most common. Wreathall occurs from 1678-1685, while Wrathall is the exclusive spelling from 1686-1739. Kenneth noted a gap in the register from 1739-1783, which he tried to recover by going to several other sources with which he was familiar.
    For example, in the Bishops' transcripts from 1740 to 1786, Wrathall is the chief spelling, although Wrathal is also seen. As entries in the Burnsall register resume in 1783, Wrathall continues to predominate, although Wrathal and Wrathel appear on occasion, up to the end of data in 1814.
    In the Conistone register, Kenneth noted the principal spelling Wrathall from 1752-1811, although Wrathal was almost as common. The variant Wreathall persisted in Carleton until at least 1714, while Kenneth confirmed the spelling Wraythall in the Linton register (1731-1738).
  2. The Linton Parish Registers
    The printed transcripts of the Bishops' Transcripts of the Linton registers show a different frequency of variants: In the Linton record, the spelling first occurs as Wrathall, but from 1562-1601, in the first 3 generations, the spelling is usually without any 'L's : Wrahoe, Wratho, Wrathoe, Wrathoo, or Wrathow. The spelling shifts to Wrathall in the fourth generation (1604-1628), while the variant Wraythall begins to take over in the fifth (1633-1666). Wraythall is the dominant spelling in generations 6 - 8 (1671-1768), while Wrathall again takes over in the final generation (1766-1807).
  3. Tana Johnson's Information (Redmonds Yorkshire Surnames)
    Roy Wrathall requested a lookup of the derivation of the surname "Wrathall" from an offer made by Tana Willis Johnson, who is in charge of the West Riding Yorkshire Surname Interests Page. Tana wrote the following:
    Redmonds Yorkshire Surnames gives:
    "Rathmell, Wrathall:
    Both these surnames have Ribblesdale origins. Rathmell is the name of a hamlet but Wrathall's origin is obscure. It may refer to a lost place-name or an insignificant locality in the Lancashire section of the dale, e.g. 1379: Richard Wratholff (Long Preston) [Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns].

    In the 17th century the two names both appeared in Linton parish in adjacent Wharfedale and an interesting run of forms resulted, e.g. Ramell, Rathmell, Wrathmill, Wraythall, Wrathow. The modern variants Wrathmall, Wrathmell, Wraithmell are the result of this association between the names."

    In May 2001, Derek Wrathall and Myra Symmonds attended the WFHG annual family history day. Derek related the following about the event:
    One of the speakers, George Redmonds, had as his subject Yorkshire surnames. Apparently this is a topic he has been interested in for 50 years. I asked him a question and he asked for my surname. When I told him he said "ah yes, Ribblesdale, Long Preston". I said "no, Linton", to which he replied "that was in the 16th century, in the 13th century they were in the Long Preston area". I didn't have the chance to get more detail from him but it would appear that there is information somewhere which allows him to make such a statement so convincingly. He also said that there are many variations in the spelling including Wrathmell, Rathmell, Rathmill and, interestingly, Wratholgh. As it happens, Rathmell is a village quite near to Long Preston. I don't know if I will ever get the opportunity to find out more about this 13th C link but his statement rather bowled me over at the time. Myra was also there and was also quite staggered. Food for thought!
    So the question is whether Richard Wratholff can be tied in somehow with the inhabitants of whatever castle is or was located near Rathmell and Long Preston. My sources don't show any castle in their vicinity. For more information regarding the poll tax of 1379, and other early records, see     Earliest Wrathall Records
  4. The Ancient Parish-Church of Linton
    In The Registers of The Ancient Parish-Church of Linton by the Rev. F.A.C.S., the preferred spelling "Wrathall" was equated with the variant spellings Rothall, Waythall, Wrathal, Wrathell, Wrathoe, Wrathoo, Wrathow, Wraythall, Wrethea, Wreathey, and Wrethall.
  5. Wreathalls of East Yorkshire
    In Wreathalls of East Yorkshire, Arthur and Stella Wall and Anthony Wreathall have contributed data indicating that such spellings as Wreathel, Wreathil and Wreathill are variants of a current spelling (Wreathall), which was listed as a variant of Wrathall by Kenneth Ball.
Other Surnames Similar to Wrathall
In April 2003, Clark Wrather, who can be reached at storm(at)octm(dot)com, mentioned the following about another possible variant spelling of Wrathall:
I've been working on a one-name study of the Wrather/Rather surname. I've amassed quite a bit of data on WRATHERs and their variants in England before 1750. I happened onto your website because you have a Robert Wrather mixed in with your Wrathall lines. Do you feel that Wrathall and Wrather are connected? I've been hoping to stumble upon the ultimate origins of the name WRATHER and I'm curious if WRATHALL shares a similar origin. The earliest records I've found in Yorkshire of WRATHERs used the spelling, WRAYTHER. Possibly, way back in the mists of time, the two names were related.
The L.D.S. uses Soundex equivalents to phonetically link various spellings, and they don't consider Wrather and Wrathall to be equivalent. Nor do they consider the original spelling of Wrathoe equivalent to Wrather. They also excluded Wrather from their Wrathall records in the "Bishops' Transcripts". One of the researchers mentioned above (Kenneth Ball) added the Wrather name to his findings, perhaps just to avoid any omission. The Rev. F. A. C. Share did the most complete research on Wrathall records in Linton/Burnsall area, and he didn't consider Wrather to be a variant spelling of Wrathall.

It's possible that the name "Wrather" could be considered a variant spelling of Wrathall in a village whose earliest records were written as Wratho or Wrathall, but not a variant in other villages whose earliest records were written as Wrather or Rather, unless the Wrathers of such a village originated in another village where the original spelling was Wratho or Wrathall.