Pole (surname)
The surname Pole usually derives from "Pool", a person associated with a body of water. The Welsh "de la Pole"s descended from Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn take their name from the previous association with the place Welshpool. The link between the knightly "de la Poles" of Wales (pre-1300), and William de la Pole (Chief Baron of the Exchequer), of Hull and his descendants, is uncertain and unproven. It is presented as fact in some genealogies. (See Parentage of William de la Pole (d.1366). Additionally some medieval contemporaries may have been unrelated to either family.