The assertion in 1961 by one of my secondary school teachers (A Hungarian who came to Australia post WW2) that the name Gribble was an old German name.
The strong assertion in about 1994 by one of my neighbours (a German born lady married to an Italian) that the name Gribble was an old German name.
The hundreds of German miners (presumably from the Tyrol) brought to England in Elizabethan times by Hechstetter. These have been shown to have intermarried into the Welsh population. No comment is made concerning how many had worked near Illogan with the other German mining engineers (Frosse, Burchard, Hering) nor what might have happened to these miners if there were any.
In Bristol Brass the authors describe 'entries of foreign workers appear from 1723 in the registers of Twerton parish church ... there are several entries for the Graft, Graff or Graef family, described as Dutch, although a stone memorial in the church indicates their home was in Viet in Germany'.
The observation that Southern Germany and Hungary both touch on the Tyrolean region. The fact that two people independently of each other in time (but seemingly close geographically at one time) made essentially the same assertion concerning the name Gribble suggests that perhaps in this region there was some similar sounding name. The only thing I have identified is the word for mine Grübl which looks like it might sound almost like Gribble. There are many old mines dating back to circa 1800 and before in this Tyrol region. Eg Kaltes Grüebl also spelt Klaten Grübl.
The apparent existence of a French based line spelt variously Gribel, Gribbell, Gribble, Grivel, Grivbill. The family (with marriage connections to Alsace) was said to have moved to the USA from France circa 1830. Refer Barb Schultz archive in rootsweb dated 7 March 2000. I have not been able to ascertain any additional information on this post.
The assertion by one American Gribble descendant (Don Seibert) of a German Gribble heritage (Heinrich Gribble of Gaugreweiler, Canton Rackenhausen, Rein-Pfalz, Bavaria born circa 1817). Unproved according to correspondence from Don to me in 1999.
The incidence in certain European countries of names beginning with Gr- eg de Grubber from Holland.
The influx to England at various times of European migrants eg during and after: the Norman invasion of the 11th century, and the Elizabethan years (the miners from the Tyrol area which had been not much earlier a part of Spain. On occasion my father when questioned on his family origin would mention Cornwall and before that over the channel perhaps Spain. The latter usually with a bit of a laugh. It seems quite a number of Cornish mining familys express the possibility of some Spanish connection in their ancestry. While Cornish Spanish connections dating from the time of The Armarda have been largely discounted (disproved some would argue) the idea that Cornish miners with a faint oral memory of a Spanish link might have arisen from a Tyrolian connection and Spanish rule of that region has to my knowledge not been explored. In circa 1806 Bavaria ousted the Spanish during the War of Liberation.
The paper by J & M Gribble in a chart showing recorded Gribble births across England and Wales reveals that in the period 1500 - 1550 the numbers were close to zero! Probaby less than five as best I can make out. This is highly suggestive one or two Gribbles entered the country in this period. Alternately one or two people chose to adopt this name at this time or perhaps people bearing the name Gribble did not get the births of their children registered.
Above all, centuries of trading links between Europe and England dating from Roman times and continuing down the centuries. Some of the Barnstaple Gribbles around 1800 for example postulated a family origin stemming from a Huguenot exodus from Europe.
