Brazell
Likely a nickname or occupational surname linked to brazil wood, the source of a red dye used by medieval merchants and craftsmen.
The #8,512 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,820 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Brazell is generally explained as a form related to Brazil, from medieval words for brazil wood—the reddish dyewood traded in Europe long before the country Brazil was named. The name may have arisen as a trade-name for someone who dealt in that dye or wood, or as a nickname connected with the color it produced. Earlier scholarship also points to medieval forms such as brasiler, meaning a dealer in brazil wood or dye.
History
The surname appears in English records, and 19th- and early-20th-century surname scholars treated it as a rare occupational or trade-based name. It is uncommon today, and in many cases may also reflect spelling variation or shortening from a related form such as Brazil. Because the evidence is limited, the exact pathway for any one family line can be hard to pin down.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is tied to brazil wood, not directly to the modern nation of Brazil—the country was named later from the same wood.
From the historical record
“been adopted in place of cumbrous trade-names, such as Thomas le Mustard er (City B.}, John Garleke- mongere (IpM.}. So also Brazil, Brazell may be from the vegetable dye which gave its name to a South American country and a medieval trade [Robert Brand, brasiler, Leic. BOY. Rec.]', cf. Adam Saffran (Pat. R.).…”
— Surnames