Brief Life History of John
When John Neal was born about 1857, in Gosberton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom, his father, John Neal, was 20 and his mother, Maria Wilkinson, was 21.
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Family Time Line
Sources (2)
- John Neal in household of Maria Neal, "England and Wales Census, 1871"
- Legacy NFS Source: John Neal - Government record: birth-name: John Neal
Parents and Siblings
+1 More Child
World Events (3)
1880 · School Attendance Becomes Mandatory for Children
School attendance became compulsory from ages five to ten on August 2, 1880.
1884
Art Nouveau Period (Art and Antiques).
1908
London, United Kingdom hosts Summer Olympic Games.
Name Meaning
English (of Norman origin): from the Old French, Anglo-Norman French, and Middle English personal name Neel, Nele, Nihel, Niel, itself derived from the Latin name Nigellus (a diminutive of Latin niger ‘black’), originally a nickname for someone with black hair or a dark complexion. The name was very common among Normans and was brought to England at the time of the Norman Conquest. There has been considerable confusion with the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name Niall (see Neil ); the two names are now pronounced identically. It is theoretically possible that in Normandy, where the personal name was popular, that it was also used for Old Norse Njáll, but this is difficult to prove. Njáll was adopted from the Irish Gaelic personal name Niall by Vikings in Ireland, who took it back to Iceland and Norway, but whether the Vikings also took Njáll to Normandy and to the northwest of England, is an open question, which cannot be settled on the available evidence.
English: alternatively from the Middle English personal name Nele, a variant of Nell as a pet form of Elias (see Ellis ). Compare Nelson , Nielson .
Scottish and Irish: shortened form of McNeal (see McNeil ).
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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