Naugle
A surname that likely developed as a spelling variant of an older name such as Nagle or Naile, with no single certain origin.
The #9,503 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 90,276 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical excerpt only says that Naugle is “the same as” Nagle, but does not explain the deeper origin of the name. In surname scholarship, Naugle is often treated as a spelling variant or local alteration of names like Nagle or Naile, which can point to either an English occupational source connected with nails or, in some cases, an Irish surname tradition. Because the evidence is mixed and the form is unstable in older records, the safest conclusion is that Naugle is an uncertain surname with possible English and Irish roots.
History
The name appears in American records in several spellings, which is typical of surnames that shifted as families moved and clerks wrote names phonetically. The excerpted 19th-century source links it directly to Nagle, suggesting that writers of the period saw the forms as interchangeable. In modern U.S. use, Naugle survives as a relatively uncommon surname, especially in Pennsylvania and other regions with strong Germanic and British settlement histories.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The older surname dictionaries sometimes group Naugle with Nail/Nagle simply because spellings were fluid before modern standardization.
From the historical record
“NaGLE. The same as Naugle. B.L.G. NAIL. See Nale. NAILER. A maker of nails. The word is still in use in the iron districts. Halli- well defines it as a seller of nails.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom