Talk:Catchpole

i'm a catchpole and my name is james i'm also a catchpole and my name is also james. greetings!

Catchpole name
I'm a Catchpole and was always told the name came from Catch Poultry and was nothing to do with the Catchpole instrument. There is an 18th Century book called The History of Margaret Catchpole about an apparently genuine Norfolk woman who was deported to Australia. (see Thomas Spencer Cobbold)

I've done a bit of research into the etymology and origin of the catchpole name. I'm a catchpole too. I first became interested in this when I was visiting the Tower of London and actually saw a Catchpole on the display. btw, I've seen both meanings for Catchpole, but the connections between the two make sense. I'll try to update the page eventually.

Famous Catchpoles
Us Catchpoles should think about including a list of our famous relatives!

Ted Catchpole: Australian rugby player James Catchpole (Morrison): UK singer Margaret Catchpole: famous jewel theif

Spoof
The page seems to contain spoof. The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary says:

Catchpole, from ME cacchepol, fr. OE caecepol, fr. (assumed) ONF cachepol, lit., chicken chaser, fr. ONF cachier + pol chicken, fr. L pullus--more at catch, pullet. -- Ghirla -трёп-  10:34, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

missing information in paragraph 2
Paragraph 2, entire:
 * A second source of the name, also dating from medieval England, mostly in Norfolk and Dorset, comes from the local tax collectors. It was often the case that smallholders were unable to pay cash for their local land-owners tax and hence collectors were sent round to take goods in lieu. When the tradition that one's surname was one's profession took hold and passed through the generations, the name became contracted to Catchpole.

What, precisely, "became contracted to Catchpole"? There's nothing in the text that could fill that slot. ISTM that this may have been sloppily copied and edited from some other source with the critical info left out... at least, that's the most generous explanation I can think of. --Thnidu (talk) 17:54, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Solid etymology
After the above concerns about the unreferenced claims in the article, and now its being mocked in the authoritative World Wide Words, it's time to cut the Gordian Knot. I've revised the etymology to that given by dictionaries and World Wide Words. And noted the false reference to catching tax-owers with a pole. I also removed the reference "mostly in Norfolk and Dorset", since that too was unreferenced. Onanoff (talk) 11:44, 30 March 2013 (UTC)


 * The etymology is far from solid. No dictionaries are cited and the only source is of dubious authority. Plus "the etymology is wrong because it was mocked by some site, and the reason why that site is right is that that site mocked the etymology" is obviously circular reasoning. I'm amending that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.34.66.133 (talk) 01:10, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Henry and Thomas
Clicking the links to both those names goes to people,who have exactly the same dats which seems odd.PortfolioMind (talk) 17:01, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

Wow
What an interesting surname! Now, thanks to the article's summary, I've an idea of it stemming from some random tax collector from medieval England which makes the name all the more...unique. --86.21.101.169 (talk) 03:38, 21 September 2014 (UTC)