Rylands Family History

Mostly from a plural form of Ryland. Middle English ryelandes -londes refers to the strips of arable where rye was grown within one of the large open fields that were typical of medieval communal farming; as a phrase it could be used to name an open field where rye predominated.

This is the source of the Lancs surname but elsewhere the original form may alternatively have been in the singular with final -s added later.

From Rylance in Cheshire, a lost place in Pownall Fee, which is recorded as Rylondis in about 1200, Ruylonds in 1337, and Ruylond in 1349.

The place-name has the same meaning ‘rye land(s)’ as in (1) with vacillation between singular and plural forms.

Surnames from it are difficult to distinguish from Rylands or Rylance from other sources.