Caswell
A surname usually taken from place names meaning “cold spring” or “spring by a ridge/hill,” and sometimes linked to English localities called Caswell.
The #3,611 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,418 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Caswell is generally explained as a locational surname from English place names such as Caswell in Somerset or Dorset. The usual English analysis sees the first element as an old word for “cold” and the second as Old English wæll or wella, meaning a spring or stream, giving the sense “cold spring.” Some writers also connected it with Welsh place-names or with the Welsh personal name Caswallon, but the place-name explanation is the more common one in surname studies.
History
The name appears in several English counties and was carried to London and later to North America. Some 19th-century writers also treated Caswell as a form of Carswell or noted regional spellings such as Casswell. In genealogical sources it is especially associated with families in Somerset, Dorset, and Leominster, Herefordshire.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One historical line of interpretation linked the surname to Caswallon, the Welsh king whom Roman writers knew as Cassivellaunus.
From the historical record
“1757. — Stephen Fryer and Abigail Caswell : St. Geo. Han. Sq. i. 70. London, 3, 3 , i, 3 : Devon Dir. (Farmers' List), o, o, 5, 3 ; Philadelphia, 3, o^ o, o ; New York, 1, o, 1, x.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)