An English, Irish, French and Scottish surname, Noble comes from the Latin term ‘nobilis’ and the Old French term ‘noble’, which means someone of high birth or distinguished. The spelling variations for Noble include McNoble, Noeble, Nobels, Nobil, Nobill, Nobelle and Nobile. Two German spellings for Noble are Knobel and Nobel. In England those with the Noble surname mostly live in Yorkshire, the city of London, Lancashire, Cumberland and Durham. There are scatterings of the name over most of England. In Scotland the Noble surname is across the country. The counties with the greatest population of Noble names is Midlothian, Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, Renfrewshire and Inverness-shire. Within the United States the Noble families started in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and then spread to Ohio, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, California, Texas, Washington, New Jersey, Maine and Missouri. Famous: Bill Noble (champion rugby player from Australia), David L. Noble (inventor of the computer floppy disk), James Noble (actor), Dave Noble (professional football player), Richard Noble (land speed record holder 1983-1997), William Noble (jockey finishing 10th in the 1845 Grand National Horse Race) and Jamie Noble (professional wrestler).