Gale
Usually a surname from a place-name or local feature, though in some cases it may also reflect Gaelic or Scottish roots.
The #2,296 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,460 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English records, Gale is often treated as a locational surname, probably from a place-name or from residence near a local feature such as a gaol or gate in some dialect spellings. The name has also been linked by older scholars to place-forms like Gheel/Ghent-type European localities in some branches, but the evidence is mixed. In Scotland and northern Britain, however, Lower and other writers also connect Gale with Gaelic/Gael forms, so the surname may have more than one independent origin.
History
The surname appears early in medieval records in several spellings, and it is especially found in parts of England such as Devon, Lancashire, and Yorkshire. Some families were later associated by antiquarians with Gaelic or Welsh-identified lineages, while others were plainly local in origin. Because the name has multiple possible roots, modern bearers may not share a single ancestry.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An older source even suggested that some Gale families in Gloucestershire had once written the name as De Gales, reflecting how fluid surname spellings could be in medieval records.
From the historical record
“GALE. A Scottish H.R. See, however, Gael. GALER, Perhaps the same as Gaylord. GALL. An ancient personal name. Two saints Galle occur in the Roman Calendar, one of whom Avas a Scotch abbot. GALLAND. The name of a locality im- known to me, whence belike Gallon.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom