Steel
Usually a nickname or personal-name surname from the metal steel; in some places it may also reflect a northern word for a stile or hill spur.
The #4,949 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,418 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained from the word for steel, the hard metal, which in Old English appears as stēle/stīele and is also related to Old Norse stál. Early writers treated it as a nickname or as a hereditary surname formed from a personal name meaning “steel” or “hard as steel.” In northern English usage, however, the same spelling could also connect with dialect steel meaning a stile or, in Scotland, a spur or projecting hill feature.
History
The name is well attested in medieval England, and 19th-century surname scholars especially noticed its frequency in eastern England. Some authorities thought it was strongly Scandinavian in flavor, reflecting Norse influence in northern and eastern coastal areas. Others noted that not every occurrence can be separated cleanly, since the spelling Steel could also arise from local topographic words or from related personal names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Victorian surname writers pointed out that Steel appears in old records both as a byname and as a family name, which is why the same spelling can sometimes hide more than one origin.
From the historical record
“STEEL "I (Eng.) i a pers. name and nick- STEELE J name from the metal [O.E. st$U, stieU = O.N. stdl, steel] Robert StAc—Hund. Rolls. With that great campion Gray Steill [var. Steel].— Sir Gray Steill, 2789. 3 Dweller by a Stile [North. E. steel, a”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Steel
- Danielle Steel (b. 1947)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.