Kenkel Family History

South German: possibly a variant of Gengel, deriving either from Old High German gang ‘go’, an element in many personal names, or from Middle High German gengeler ‘street seller’, ‘seller of haberdashery’; alternatively, it may be a topographic name from Middle High German kengel ‘gutter’ or a shortened form of Swabian Kenkelin, a variant of Künkelin, a pet form of the personal name Konrad or Kuno, or alternatively a diminutive of Kunkel, a nickname for a tall, lanky man.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press