Rochelle
A surname that usually began as a place-name, pointing to someone from Rochelle or La Rochelle in France.
The #9,181 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 86,897 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Rochelle is a locational surname formed from the name of the French place Rochelle, especially La Rochelle. The place-name is usually explained from French roc or roche, meaning “rock,” with the diminutive or place-forming ending -elle, so the sense is roughly “little rock” or “rocky place.” In older records it appears in forms such as de la Rochelle and related spellings.
History
Medieval records show the name in Norman and English contexts, and the sources here tie it both to Rochelle in Normandy and to Rochelle/La Rochelle in France more broadly. The name later appears among families in England, and in modern times it is also familiar in Huguenot and immigrant-family lines. Because similar spellings could arise from more than one French place-name, some individual families may have different precise points of origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In one medieval English source, the surname is said to have become shortened to Rose in some lines, showing how place-names could shift dramatically over time.
From the historical record
“THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY ROCHELLE, called by Leland " Rokel "; from Rochelle, in the Cotentin. Not in Domesday, nor heard of before the reign of Henry II. Ros. Five of the name are entered in Domesday, deriving their name from the parish of Ros, two miles from Caen. •The name has become Rose. ROSCELYN, not in…”
— Family Names and their Story