Are Gribbles Related ?

Question:

Are Gribbles Related ?

I am married to a man with the last name of Gribble.
I was told that everyone with this name is a relative rather white or black. There some in Tennese USA as well as other parts of the country . Can anyone help me with this question ?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Gribble

(1) English: from a Norman personal name Grimbald, composed of the Germanic elements grim ??mask??, ??helmet?? + bald, bold ??bold??, ??brave??.

(2) Respelling of German Gribbel, from a pet form of a personal name formed with Greif.

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

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So, there are English Gribbles and German ones. If they are related, it is VERY distant.

The black ones and the white ones may be related. If your husband's ancestors had slaves, chances are about 4 out of 5 he has black cousins. My Pack ancestors did and I do. One of the dirty little secrets of the South was how many masters would wander down to the slave quarters for soalce when the Missus was having a headache.

If you read wills from slave owners, the phrase "treat with special kindness" pops up a lot, as in "I bestow my Negro man Moses to my son William, and ask that he be treated with special kindness." It is a code phrase for "He's your half brother; don't sell him down the river".

Back to the name - "Norman personal name Grimbald . . ." So it is like "Thompson", but rarer. All Thompsons are not related; they just had ancestors named Thomas at some point. (Johnsons, Simpsons and Petersons did too.)

The only people who can claim that everyone with their surname is related are the ones whose surname comes from a village or town. I don't have an example at hand, but there are some.