Rowell
A mostly English surname that likely began as a place-name, meaning someone who came from a hamlet or spring called Rowell.
The #2,285 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 19,355 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most sources treat Rowell as a locational surname from a place in Gloucestershire, especially the hamlet in Hawling and related forms recorded as Roweile, Rowelle, or Roel. One explanation connects the place-name with Old English words for a roe deer and a spring or well, giving the sense of a “roe-spring” or a spring frequented by roe deer. Some older writers also note a possible French link in certain forms, but the English place-name explanation is the main one for the surname in Britain.
History
The surname is documented in medieval England and appears in various spellings in later parish and marriage records. It was especially associated in older surname dictionaries with Gloucestershire, though bearers later spread into other English counties and to North America. The spelling Rowell overlaps with the separate surname Rowland in some historical discussions, so not every appearance is necessarily from the same origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname writers specifically glossed Rowell as a place where roe deer were thought to gather by a spring or well.
From the historical record
“ROWE, V. Row. ROWELL "1 (Eng.) Dweller at the Roe-Spring, ROWLL J i.e. a spring or well frequented by roes [O.E. rd, a roe + w(i)ella, a spring] The Glouc. Rowell is also called Roel. (A.-Fr.-Teut.) I the French Rouel (v. under Row(e — A.-Fr.-Teut.'), a double dim. of Rolf, Rodolf, q.v. [Fr. dim, suff.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)