Canal Family History

Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, and southern French: topographic name from canal ‘channel, pipe, conduit’ (from Late Latin canalis, a derivative of canna ‘reed’), e.g., for someone who lived near an irrigation channel or a habitational name from any of numerous places called with this word.

Asturian-Leonese (Cañal): habitational name from Cañal, a place in Asturias (Spain) named with cañal ‘reedbed’ (from Latin canna ‘reed’).

Italian: variant of Canale.