Bell Family History

English (northern) and Scottish (Lowlands): from the Middle English personal name Bell. As a man's name this is from Old French beu bel ‘handsome’ which was also used as a nickname. As a female name it represents a short form of Isabel.

English (northern) and Scottish (Lowlands): from Middle English belle ‘bell’ (Old English belle) in various applications; most probably a metonymic occupational name for a bell ringer or bell maker or a topographic name for someone living ‘at the bell’ (as attested by 14th-century forms such as John atte Belle). This indicates either residence by an actual bell (e.g. a town's bell in a bell tower centrally placed to summon meetings sound the alarm etc.) or ‘at the sign of the bell’ i.e. a house or inn sign (although surnames derived from house and inn signs are rare in Scots and English).

English: from Middle English bel ‘fair fine good’ (Old French bel ‘beautiful fair’). See also Beal German: from Bell in Rhineland or possibly from Belle in Westphalia.

Norwegian: habitational name from a farmstead in western Norway named Bell, the origin of which is unexplained. Scandinavian: of English or German origin (see above).

Americanized form of German Böhl or Böll (see Boehle Boll). American shortened and altered form of various Slavic names beginning with Bel- ‘white’ e.g. of Rusyn (from Slovakia) Belejčák, a derivative of Belej (see Beley). Americanized form of one or more similar (like-sounding) Jewish surnames.