Stockwell
A habitational surname from places called Stockwell, originally meaning either “well by a tree stump” or “well by a stockade/log fence.”
The #5,234 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,330 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Stockwell is an English habitational surname, taken from places named Stockwell. The name is usually explained from Old English stocc, meaning a stump or log, plus wella/wylla, “spring” or “well,” giving the sense “well by the tree stump.” A related interpretation treats the first element as a stockade or log fence, so the literal meaning may also be “well by the fenced enclosure.”
History
The name is linked especially with Stockwell in Surrey, once a chapelry in the parish of Lambeth, and it appears in medieval records in forms such as Stokwell. Like many English locational surnames, it spread as people moved away from the original place. Later bearers are found across several English counties and in overseas records, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Stockwell is a good example of how a very ordinary landscape feature—just a well near a stock or stump—could become a lasting family name.
From the historical record
“STOCKUM for Stockhann, q.v. STOCKWELL (Eng.) Bel. to Stockwell, 13th- 14th cent. StokwellU, A.-Sax. StocwyU{a = the Well by the 'rREE-STUMP(s ; or the Log-Fenced Well [O.E. stoc(c + wyll{a, wielKa] IToDAR? ) (Eng-) Horsekeeper [M.E. STODDARD [ •S""'*''-*. et=- i OE. stM, stud, o-rXr>r\AD-r I herdof horses -|-…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)