The phrase “according to Hoyle” is most often used in situations when a speaker wants to indicate that his comment is based on some acknowledged level of authority, especially when a direct written reference is not available. In other words, a speaker is asserting that what he is saying or proposing is based on the highest authority and in accord with a strict set of rules.

Little is known about most of Edmond Hoyle’s life. Hoyle is believed to have been trained to become a barrister (lawyer, attorney). In 1741, Hoyle began working as a whist tutor to members of the English Royal Family and other members of the upper classes. In addition to providing personal instruction, he sold a short booklet on the game of whist to his clients, describing his strategies for playing the game. After hIs booklet became quite popular, unauthorized copies of it began to circulate throughout London. Hoyle later published and copyrighted his A Short Treatise On The Game Of Whist: Containing The Laws Of The Game And Also Some Rules (1743) in an attempt to prevent the unauthorized publication of his works.

Editor’s Notes: Evidence would indicate that Sir Edmond (Edmund) Hoyle would be considered a member of the British branch of families that carry the Hoyle surname.

Because of his success, Hoyle followed with similar treatises on backgammon, chess, quadrille, piquet, and brag. In 1750, a compendium of these essays was published, as Mr. Hoyle’s Games Complete, and over time it pushed off the market Charles Cotton’s aging The Compleat Gamester, long considered to be the “standard” English-language reference work on the subject of playing of games – especially gambling games – since its publication in 1674.

Hoyle’s A Short Treatise On The Game Of Whist was regarded as authoritative until 1864, after which time it was superseded by the new rules written by John Loraine Baldwin and adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs.

Many modern game rule books still contain the word “Hoyle” in the title, but that doesn’t mean that they are works that are directly derivative of those written by Hoyle.

Sir Edmond Hoyle was a charter inductee into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979 thanks to his many contributions to not only poker, but all types of card and board games.

Sir Edmond’s surname can still be seen printed on hundreds of books such as Hoyle’s Rules of Games: Third Revised and Updated Edition about card and board games and on the backs of playing cards.

In the United States, most Hoyle families living in New England and the northern midwestern states have their roots in the British Isles.  Even though “Hoyle” is clearly an English surname, the largest group of Hoyle families, however, are not descendents of British immigrants to the American colonies, but rather from settlers that came from Germany and other Prussian states.

When German immigrants first came to America in the early part of the the 18th Century, they landed at seaports located in Baltimore, Philadephia and New York.  Mostly farmers and craftsmen, they took their families and moved west and south, into the western portions of Pennsylvania and into the Carolinas and Georgia.

Many of those who settled in Pennsylvania retained their German surnames and held onto many old country ways, many becoming part of a larger community often referred to as “Pennsylvania Dutch,” the term Dutch was really a corruption of the word “Deutsch” (German).

The word “Dutch” in this case owes its origin to an archaic meaning where the word “Dutch” designated groups that are today considered German and Dutch – prior to the Thirty Years’ War, the Netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch were generally regarded as one of several German peoples. Reference: Wikipedia: Pennsylvania Dutch

Some of these early German immigrants kept the name “HEYL” or ended up using variations of that surname, such as HEIL, HEILL, HAILL, HOILE, and to a lesser extent HOYL. As far as we can tell, the name was originally pronounced as sort of a gutteral “hale” sound (try clearing your throat or vibrating your tongue while saying “hale” to get the idea).

Many early immigrant families kept the original spelling and pronunciation of their surname. However, most – especially those who settled in the southern colonies – tended to Anglicize their names. Most of these families settled on “HOYL” or “HOYLE.”  During the mid-1800s in the United States, most families that initially used the the HOYL spelling later added the “E” in line with the more common usage.

Some German immigrant families, especially those living in Pennsylvania and some northern states, changed “HEYL” to “HALE” or “HAYLE” which was more in keeping with the original pronunciation of the name.  Other families just left the spelling of their surname HEYL or HEIL, similar to what it was when their ancestors first landed in America.

There will be much more on this subject in later postings.