The Antell one-name study began in 2022, and builds on decades of research undertaken by several genealogists. It is likely that some branches of the Antell/Anketell/Antill family trees are related, while others are not. As our DNA project develops, we will be able to answer that question definitively, and map out the family trees and migration routes.

The registered variants of the name are Anketell and Antill.

There are various reasons to think that the surnames Antell, Antill and Anketells are variants of the same root surname. Church registers and other records confirm that the different variants of our surname were frequently used interchangeably. For example, the baptism register of Marnhull, Dorset shows entries for George and Mary’s children from 1727 to 1747, spelt Antell, Antekell, Antill and Anthill.

The Old Norse word Ketill meaning ‘a round pot’, became a common byname in ancient Scandinavia. Ketill was frequently used as a personal-name in Iceland before 900 A.D. It became very popular in the Danelaw where it gave rise to several place names before 1066 such as Ketsby and Kettleby in Lincolnshire. Like many other Scandinavian names Ketill was combined with As (meaning ‘god’) to give the personal-name Asketill. For example, the man who led the Danish army from Repton to Cambridge in 874 was named Asketill. This is, of course, an example of Asketil being used as a personal-name not an hereditary surname.

We also see instances of the personal-name among the Normans, many of whom were of Scandinavian origin. Asketill was modified by the Frankish forms which were in use in Normandy which turned the As- into Ans- giving Anschetill. This Ans- later became An- giving rise to the forms Anketell, Ankettle, Anquetel, Ankill and Antell. 

In 1866, a roll of William the Conqueror’s companions was drawn up by a committee of French scholars and inscribed on the west wall of the church at Dives. It includes an Aquetil de Cherbourg and an Aquetil de Ros. In 1931 another list was compiled and inscribed on a bronze tablet in the chapel of the Chateau at Falaise. This includes Anquetil de Ros and there is  an ‘additional name accepted’ of Anchetil de Grai. Again, these are examples of the name being used by Normans in its Frankish form as a personal-name, the surnames (not necessarily ancestral surnames) being taken from the places in Normandy of Rots, Graye, and Cherbourg.

The earliest occurrence of the name as a surname that we’re aware of is Robert Asketill in 1200 in Hampshire but this may not be an hereditary surname. The earliest known mention of the surname with the spelling Antell in the south of England is Richard Antell who was Curate at Chard in 1522/3. There is an earlier mention of the name in the north of England: John Antell was admitted a freeman of Norwich in 1469/70.

The most well documented use of the surname is found in Dorset, UK. Roger Anketil was a juror in Shaftesbury in 1243 and verderer of Gillingham Forest from 1244 to 1258. William Ancketel was Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury in 1306. In 1347 he obtained a licence from the Bishop of Salisbury to have an oratory (private chapel) in his mansion.

Williams’s son John Ancketil was M.P. for Shaftesbury in 1333, 1336, and 1337. John’s son William Ancketil was M.P. for Shaftesbury in 1374.  He was mentioned in the  Heralds’ visitations. Williams’s son, also William, is described in The list of Gentry 1433 as William Ancketill of Ancketill’s Place and of Lye. William’s son Oliver Ancketill is also described as of Ancketill’s Place and Lye and his eldest son and the eldest son of succeeding generations is styled of Ancketill’s Place and of Lye, armiger (i.e. bearer of a coat of arms). 

Ancketill’s Place remained in the family until 1619 when Christopher Ancketill of East Almer and Stour Provost, joined with his eldest son in selling it to Thomas Still of Somerton, Somerset. Christopher was at some time High Sheriff for Dorset.

Henry Anketell, the third son of Christopher Anketell, was appointed Rector of Mells, Somerset on 20th March 1623 and became chaplain to the Earl of Dorset. On 16th January 1642 he and four others of Wadham college, Oxford, were made doctors of divinity. In February 1645, during the civil wars, we find him as Colonel Anketell holding Corfe Castle for the King, and though he was taken prisoner, he managed to rejoin the King’s side; for on 25th July, 1645, a cavalry force of Cromwellians is stated in the newspapers of the time to have fallen upon the regiment of Colonel Anketill, described as a doctor of divinity, near Sherborne. In September 1645 his estate at Stour Provost was sequestered but compounded for.

On 12th June 1660, an address was presented to King Charles the Second, on his Restoration, from the nobility and gentry of the county of Dorset. Among the signatures is that of Brereton Anketil.  

The 1851 Census of England & Wales shows four clusters of Antells/Antills. These are found in:

• Dorset/Somerset 
• Leicestershire/Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire 
• Surrey/Middlesex
• Gloucestershire

For a quick overview of surname distribution, search for Antell, Antill, Anketell, or any other variant at www.forebears.io

It would be great to have more participants who would be happy to take part in our Y-DNA project by providing a cheek swab sample. We can provide advice and guidance, and also provide access to a free or discounted test kit.