Murrell
Usually a variant of Morell, a nickname for someone dark-haired or swarthy, though some English lines may also be linked to the personal name Muriel.
The #3,185 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 27,209 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most historical sources treat Murrell as a spelling variant of Morell, from Old French morel or morel, meaning “dark” or “brown,” often used as a nickname for a swarthy or dark-haired person. Some writers also connect it with Muriel as a patronymic-style surname meaning “son of Muriel,” but that looks secondary and less certain. The spelling has also been influenced by the wide medieval habit of varying vowels and doubling consonants in surname forms.
History
The name appears in English records in several spellings, including Murrell, Murrill, and Merrell. Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname writers often grouped it with other “Morel/Morell” forms, and Weekley notes it among colour-based French surnames. In some families, later surname forms may have been reshaped by association with the given name Muriel.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname dictionaries explicitly link Murrell with Morell rather than treating it as an independent name.
From the historical record
“-f the asp. form of magh, a fiel^, plain] MURRELL MURRILL = Morell, q.v. MURRELLS, Murrell's (Son) : v. Murrell, Morell. ' MURROGH”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)