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GRISWOLD FAMILY NAME RESEARCH

INDEX


THE GRISWOLD NAME

SPELLING VARIATIONS
Griswold, Greswold, Griswald, Griswould, Griswald, Griswoll, Griswall, Grisweld, Greswald.

The Griswold name is found early in Warwickshire, England. Roger Grysewold held a manor there in 1381.

The wold part of the name is thought to be from the Germanic for woodland, but in England became open meadow. The Gris part harder to determine.

Gris, of itself, is said to possibly be from Old Norse to mean pig, or wild boar. It is pointed out, though, that the earliest spellings of the name are not Gris. Some thoughts are that it may come from Grey as in Grey Wooland, or Gravel as in a gravelly woodland, or from the old German name Greifswald, though it is pointed out that this name in Germany probably came later than the Anglo-Saxons time. None of these seem to be correct. It is most likely that the name Griswold evolved from a personal name from a woodland setting, probably not Greifswald, but something similar.

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