Connell
An Irish surname that often comes from O'Connell, meaning a descendant of a name linked by some scholars to love, friendship, or strength.
The #1,589 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,690 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Connell is commonly treated as the Anglicized form of the Irish O'Connell, with the prefix O' dropped in some families. Older surname writers offered more than one explanation for the underlying personal name: some connected it with a Gaelic root meaning “love” or “friendship,” while others linked related Conn- names to ideas of “strength” or “power.” Because the historical sources do not fully agree, the exact original sense should be treated cautiously.
History
The name is long established in Ireland, especially in Munster, and the great O'Connell family became one of the best-known bearers of the surname. In English-language records, Connell often appears both with and without the Irish prefix O'. The surname also spread widely through emigration, especially to Britain, North America, and other English-speaking countries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century surname books treated Connell simply as “O'Connell, sans O,” showing how often the prefix was dropped in English records.
From the historical record
“there a town so called in Shropshire ? CONNELL. The Irish O'Connell, sans 0. CONNELLAN. The family O'Connellan is Milesian and deduced from the great family of O'Neill. B.L.G. CONNINGTON. Gonington, parishes in cos. Cambridge and Hunts.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom