Dell
A topographic surname for someone who lived in or near a small valley or dell.
The #4,305 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,401 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname comes from Middle English *dell*, meaning a small valley, hollow, or wooded dip in the ground. It goes back to an Old English word for a valley or depression in the landscape. In surname use, it originally described someone who lived by such a place.
History
The name appears in English records as a straightforward local or topographic surname. Related forms such as Deller and Dellow developed from the same place-based root. It remains most common in England but is also established in the United States and elsewhere through migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books often gloss Dell simply as “a little dale or valley,” showing how directly many English surnames came from the landscape.
From the historical record
“DE L'ISLE. See Lisle. DELL. A little dale or valley. From residence in one. DELLER. One who resided in a dell. See termination Eit. DELLOW. Fr. De VEau. The same as Waters. DELMAR. Yr. De la Mcr. "Of the Sea."”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom