Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Deeble   
Category: 1 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is in its early stages.
Contact: Mrs Janet Harvey
Various origins can be found in surname dictionaries. P.H. Reaney in A Dictionary of British Surnames mentions the name is from debile, Lat deibil-is 'weak, feeble' (1536 NED). Basil Cottle and others say the name is from the vernacular Tebald/Tibald come from a number of surnames in Teb-/Tib-/Dib-. Theo-balds son of T-.
Bardsley's A DIctionary of English and Welsh Surnames 1901 gives Diable as Bapt the son Theobald from the nickname, Tibble, which became also Tipple q.v. A lazy pronunciation changed these to Dibble and Dipple. Interchanges between D and T were very common. Bardsley also says its an unmistakeable variant of Tibald, the popular form of Theobald. Miss Yonge has the order thus; Theobald, Tybalt, Tibble, Dibble (Hist. Christian Names, ii. 338).
Harrison in A Concise Etymological Dictioinary by Baltimore Gen Pub Co 1969 mentions - A Theobald was brother of Aethelfrith, king of Northumbria, ob. A.D. 617. Theobald was the usual 13th century form. Theobald (Tent.) People-bold.