ANGELL Family History

This unusual and interesting name is of early medieval English and French origin. It is an example of the many "nickname" surnames created during the Middle Ages; in this instance, the surname derives from the Middle English and Old French word "angel(e)", meaning angel or messenger, from the Latin "angelus", itself from the Greek "angelos", messenger. As a nickname this would have been bestowed on someone considered to have an angelic temperament or appearance, and it could also have been a "pageant" name, given to one who had played the part of an angel in a mystery play or pageant.