Bartell
A surname that usually began as a medieval given-name descendant of Bartholomew, meaning “son of Bartol/Bartholomew.”
The #7,084 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 65,329 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bartell is most likely a short, surname-forming variant of Bartle, Bartel, or Bartol, all nicknames and diminutives that ultimately go back to the biblical name Bartholomew. In that sense, the name began as a patronymic: it identified someone as the son or descendant of a man called Bartel or a similar form. The deeper root of Bartholomew is usually explained as a Semitic personal name, traditionally understood as “son of Talmai,” though that biblical origin is far removed from the surname itself.
History
In English-speaking areas, Bartell appears as one of several spellings that developed from familiar local forms of Bartholomew. Similar-looking forms also occur in German and other Central European naming traditions, where Bartel and Barthel were common pet forms. The surname likely arose independently in more than one place, which helps explain its small but scattered modern distribution.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Bartell is tied to a nickname form of Bartholomew, it belongs to a large family of surnames that all trace back to the same ancient biblical name, but through very different local spellings.