Speller Family History

English and South German: occupational name for a reciter, speaker, or story-teller from an agent derivative of Middle English spell(en) and Middle High German spellen ‘to tell or relate’. In the case of the English surname, there has probably been some confusion with Spiller.

German: habitational name for someone from Spelle near Rheine (Lower Saxony). English: variant of Spiller.

English: occupational or nickname from Middle English speller(e) ‘one who can spell’, perhaps also ‘interpreter, one who can explain the written word’, a derivative of Anglo-Norman French espeleir ‘to mean, signify; to explain, interpret’.

Such a name would be suitable for a clerk or for someone who pretended to have clerical skills, but it is unlikely to be the main source of the modern name.