Sell Family History

English: from Middle English selle, a rough hut of the type normally occupied by animals, hence a topographic name for someone who lived in a hut like this. In many cases the name may have been in effect a metonymic occupational name for a herdsman. Americanized spelling of Hungarian and Hungarian Jewish Széll, a topographic name for someone who lived in a spot exposed to the wind, from Hungarian szél ‘wind’. German: variant of Selle.

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