Nagle
A surname with mixed English, German, French, and Irish streams, often tied to the word for a “nail” or to Irish forms such as Nangle.
The #3,292 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 28,163 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is usually linked to a Germanic word for “nail,” seen in Old Saxon, Old High German, Dutch, and Old English forms, which makes it a surname that could originally have described someone connected with nails or perhaps a sharp, pointed feature. Some authorities also treat Nagle as related to or shortened from Irish Nangle/Neagle forms, with an added possibility of French place-name influence in some lines. Because the historical evidence points in more than one direction, Nagle is best treated as a surname with several overlapping origins rather than a single source.
History
19th- and early-20th-century surname writers note that the name is common in America, often because of German immigration. In Ireland, it is also found in forms such as Nangle and Neagle, and some scholars thought Irish bearers may reflect later adaptation of older French or Anglo-Norman names. The result is a surname that can be genuinely German, English, French-influenced, or Irish depending on the family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Harrison explicitly connects the name with the same old word-family behind English place-names like Nailsworth and Nailstone.
From the historical record
“NAGELE ^O.Sax. nagal = Goth. *nagl-s ^ NAGLE yO.T^.nagl = Dut. nagel = O.E. ncegelyVn.., a nail, etc.] The great prevalence of this n^me in America is largely due to German im- migration. The A.-Saxpn name is seen I ^—vocalized — in Such Eng. place-names as Nailsworth and Nailstone. The commonness of Nagle ' in…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)