Wessel
A surname with several possible origins, most likely from a Germanic personal name or from place-names such as Wesel.
The #5,262 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 46,568 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Wessel is not securely traceable to one single source. In the historical literature it is linked either to a Germanic personal name, especially forms related to Warin/Werinhard, or to place-name origins such as Wesel in the Rhineland; some older writers also connected similar forms with French Vesoul. In English usage, related spellings like Wassell and Wessell were sometimes treated as variants of the same family of names.
History
The name appears in German and Dutch records and also in English-speaking countries, where immigrants and later bearers helped spread it. Historical surname writers noted multiple spellings and sometimes disagreed about whether it was chiefly patronymic, locational, or part of a wider cluster of Germanic name forms. In the United States it survives as a relatively uncommon surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname books often grouped Wessel with a whole family of similar-looking names, showing how hard it could be to separate local spellings from true origins.
From the historical record
“There is a place called Trevosper near Launceston. VESSEL, VESSELS. Same as Wessel, Wessell, Wessels ; from Vesoul, a town of France, dep. H. Saone ; or from Wesel, a town of Rhenish Prussia. VEST. A corruption of Vast, q. v. VICE. See VOICE.”
— Ludus Patronymicus; or, the etymology of curious surnames