Stull
An English and German surname that is often treated as a shortened form of older names like Stul(l)e or a variant related to Stuhl/Stoll, though the exact source is not certain.
The #3,792 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 33,113 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Stull is usually explained as a shortened or altered form of an older name with the sound of Stul- or Stuhl-, but the evidence is not strong enough to make one derivation certain. In German, surnames of this shape may be connected with words for a stool or seat, or with shortened forms of names built on St- plus a diminutive ending. In English records, spellings were often fluid, so Stull may also reflect an anglicized or simplified immigrant surname rather than a single fixed medieval source.
History
The surname is found in early modern English-language records and later appears in North American families, especially among descendants of German-speaking immigrants. Like many short surnames, it has several plausible spellings and may have been standardized differently in different branches. The available historical excerpt simply shows it in a list of surnames, not as a defined entry, so the precise origin remains uncertain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the name is short and phonetically simple, it was especially prone to spelling variation in church, court, and census records.
From the historical record
“Tilford, Strowbridge, Chatfield, Eveland, Pruyn, Mapes, Bivens, Stull, and Coppernoll. Among the New-York presidential electors, I find Mr. Tel- fair, 1789; Mr. Targee, 1820; Mr. Bruyn, 1828; and Mr, Noxon, 1840. Mr. Comelison ("comely son"'?) was Clerk of the County Court for Rockland County, N.Y., in 1805. In the…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)