Morell
A surname that can be either a dark-complexion nickname or a French Huguenot family name.
The #7,756 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 72,120 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name Morell is usually treated as a nickname surname from a word for a dark or swarthy person, ultimately related to Old French and Middle English forms meaning “dark” or “brown.” In English records it appears alongside forms like Morel, Morrall, and Murrell, which old surname writers often linked together. However, the surname also appears as a French family name, especially in Huguenot lines, so not every bearer will have the same origin.
History
English surname writers in the 19th century commonly grouped Morell with other nicknames for complexion, and they also connect it with medieval spelling variants such as Morel and Morrall. Lower records a notable Dr. Morell whose ancestors were French Huguenots from Champagne, showing that some modern bearers descend from immigrant French families rather than from the English nickname line. The surname therefore has more than one historical stream.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers sometimes glossed Morell as essentially “the morel,” a dark-complexioned person.
From the historical record
“MORELAND. See Morland. MORELL. " The sreat grandfathers of Dr. Morell [LLD., who died at Bath in 1 810] both paternally and maternally were Hu- guenots, who resided in the province of Champagne, in France. At tlie memorable era of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, these confessors were imprisoned, their goods…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom