Rachel Family History
Rachel Name Meaning
German (mainly Bavaria): probably a topographic name from Middle High German rach ‘rough steep’. German: habitational name from a place called Rachel in Bohemia. Sorbian: from an Upper Sorbian derivative (originally also spelled Rachol) of the personal name Rach . French: from the female Biblical name Rachel meaning ‘ewe’ in Hebrew. In the Bible (Genesis 28–35) Rachel is the wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. English: habitational name from an unidentified place. English: perhaps sometimes from the Middle English and Biblical personal name Rachel (see 4 above) which is absent in England before the Reformation. Whatever its origin the surname has sometimes been influenced by the Hebrew name; it is otherwise unexplained.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022