origin of the last name "Bell"...?

Question

like my family told me it was irish and scottish...i want to know which one is it and also the familyscroll....i dont know how it's called...help anyone?

Answer 1

Hey Shlane,

Here are a few sites where others have done some research. You could find someone interested in your mutual ancestors there. Like the first site, Alexander!

It looks like most of the BELL family believes Scottish. You will find a Crest on some of these pages. I would not put too much faith in one CREST. You are the combination of all your ancestral names. Thousands of people with as many different surnames contributed to your gene pool! Note the last BELL website below says it is BEL from French origin, but that would be several centuries back.

It looks like you can be proud of your Bell ancestral line!

Answer 2

It does possibly come from the Old French for beautiful, i.e. belle. And it could have the Scottish connection, because Mary Queen of Scots brought many of her French court over to Scotland, and there are a certain amount of French-derived names in Scotland.

Another line of thought is that historically people sometimes took their surname from the place that they lived, as a way of identifying who they were and where they fitted into the community. It is also possible that the original family may have lived next to a bell-shaped hill, which was a distinctive landmark locally, and so derived their name from that.

And one more ... it may have been derived from a name from an old language, such as the name Belgr which came from Old Scandinavian. Again, a certain amount of Scandinavians populated Scotland and northern England by the early 1000s.

But as to determining accurately whether your particular family name of Bell is derived from Ireland or Scotland, I think a lot more research in your family history and ancestors is going to be needed.

Answer 3

The name itself was originally French, i.e. belle-pretty. It was brought to England by the Normans after the Conquest. It now can mean two things: either the original French, or an English for someone who made bells, but that's less common, because that was usually someone who worked with brass, and didn't make exclusively bells.

Answer 4

González is Castilian Spanish of Visigothic foundation. The ez suffix on Spanish surnames ability "son of." for this reason son of Gonzalo. the closest Portuguese surname to González would be Gonçalves through fact the es suffix in Portuguese surnames is resembling "ez" in Castilian. To be Mexican you may desire to be born in Mexico or grow to be a naturalized citizen. maximum, yet no longer all, Mexicans have surnames originating from Spain. some Mexicans have Náhuatl surnames. Náhuatl is the language that became into spoken with the help of the folk of the Mexica (erroneously reported as Aztec) empire. some examples of those surnames: Zacapantzin, Coyote, Moctezuma, Atochin.

Answer 5

http://www.houseofnames.com/coatofarms_details.asp?sId=&s=Bell

Answer 6

It was a family of ding-a-lings !!