Rankilor

Rankilor is the family name of a British family whose origins were initially Scottish. It is thought that thay are a family in the Royal Bruce Clan, and are descendants of the one-time King of Scotland, Robert The Bruce. Before that, they would therefore be connected with William the Conqueror who conquered England in 1066. The name Rankilor is one spelling of the original family group. Others include Rankeillour, Rankeillor, and Rankeilour.

There is a small village in Fifeshire, Scotland, called Rankeilour and there is a Rankeillor Street in Edinburgh. There is also a Mr. Rankeillor in Robert Louis Stevenson's book "Kidnapped". The name has a long standing history in the British Isles.

The family seems to have something of a tradition of being teachers. One part of the family settled in the Birmingham area, and one member was the founding Secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Another part of the family settled in Guernsey in the 1800s, where in addition to school teaching, they owned the Rankilor Shipyard in St. Sampson's, making boats and schooners.

A further source of information for individual family member details is [e-mail]

I have been researching the name for many years Angela Tunkin ([e-mail]) or ([e-mail]) This line goes way back and it is not possible to take the line further because all the older records before 1550 were totally destroyed by fire. The Family split into 3 main groups, 1 this group remained in Scotland, 2. Moved to York area, 3. My line moved to Guernsey. As people were illiterate in those days it was down to the recorder to write the name correctly. As in each area the dialects make it impossible to all spell the name in the original format. Therefore it is written as the recorders hear it. Which is why there are variations in the spelling. A large group of the family migrated to Australia in the mid 1800's and there are more there than in GB now. The male members of my line tended to be Teachers, Ministers, and in general educators of one kind or another. Anyone wanting to know more of this history can contact me on either of the emails above. Angie Tunkin nee Rankilor.