Chapple

CHAP-uhl (like "chap" + "ul")

A surname usually linked to a chapel or chaplain, and especially common in Cornwall and other English areas.

The #9,068 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 85,667 Americans shares it.

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Etymology

Chapple is generally treated as a spelling variant of Chapel or Chappell, with the same basic source: a word for a chapel, from Old French and ultimately Latin capella, meaning a small chapel or shrine. In surname use, it may have been given to someone who lived by a chapel, worked at one, or was otherwise associated with it. Some English forms may also overlap with names derived from chaplains or chapel-keepers, so the history is not always perfectly separable.

History

The surname is found in English records in several spellings, including Chappell and Chapple, and the 19th-century sources you provided link it with the chapel name family. It is particularly associated with the southwest of England, especially Cornwall, where the Cornish place-name record also shows it. In modern usage it survives as a relatively uncommon surname in Britain and the United States.

Origin

occupationalMiddle EnglishOld FrenchLatin

Regions

EnglandCornwallSouthwest England

Variant spellings

ChappellChapelChappleChappel

Fun fact

The same root that underlies Chapel and Chapple also lies behind the word "chapel" itself.

From the historical record

“London very appropriately bear this name, CHAPPELL. CHAPPLE. See Chapel. CHARD. A town in co. Somerset. CHxVRKER, 'To chark' is to make charcoal ; a Charker is therefore a charcoal”

— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom

Related surnames

Confidence: mixed. Sources: Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (county distribution).

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