The fennell Surname
fennell Name Meaning and History
- English: metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of fennel (Old English finugle, fenol, from Late Latin fenuculum). Fennel was widely used in the Middle Ages as a herb for seasoning. The surname may also have been a topographic name for someone who lived near a place where the herb grew or was grown.
- English: Reaney also identifies this as a derivative of Fitz Neal ‘son of Neal’, citing as an example Fennells Wood, a place name recorded in 1391 as Fenelgrove and named for a Robert FitzNeel (1283).
- Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fionnghail ‘descendant of Fionnghal’, a personal name composed of the elements fionn ‘fair’, ‘white’ + gal ‘valor’.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Share this page with friends and family
Search for fennell records
More resources for your fennell family history
Fennell message board
Threads: 216 - Messages: 629
Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?
A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.
Begin your family tree with your name:
The fennell name in History
A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the fennell family name as far back in history as possible.
Member Connections
- Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the fennell last name.
- Search for Ancestry members researching one of your specific ancestors.
- Create or update your own Ancestry member profile so that other members can anonymously contact you.
More Tools and Resources
- Search Ancestry.com for all of your fennell ancestors.
- Create and publish your own family history book using Ancestry Press.
- Learn more about your family history using DNA Ancestry.
- Learn more about family history in the Ancestry Learning Center.
- Visit the Ancestry.com homepage.