Shell Family History
Shell Name Meaning
English and Irish: variant of Shield . English: from Middle English s(c)hele ‘hut’ (Old English scela) a term confined to northern England and southern Scotland. The surname may be topographic for someone who lived in or near a hut or habitational from a place so named. The element is found in several minor placenames in the forms Shiel and Shield in northern and midland England and southern Scotland. See Shield . English: habitational name from Shell in Himbleton (Worcestershire) from Old English scelf ‘rock ledge shelf’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Schelle ‘bell’. Americanized form of German Schell .
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022