Gable
Most likely a shortened or altered form of Gabriel, though some writers also linked it to a word meaning “fork” or “gable.”
The #3,634 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,572 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as a nickname or shortened form of the personal name Gabriel, the biblical name meaning “God is my strength.” Early surname writers also noted forms such as Gab, Gabb, Gabay, Gabel, and Gabell as related nicknames or variants. A minority of older etymological notes connected the word to a term for a fork or a gable, but that explanation is less convincing for the surname.
History
19th-century surname dictionaries commonly grouped Gable with Gabriel and related nicknames, suggesting a medieval English development from the given name. The name appears in English records in several spelling forms, and some bearers may also reflect later spelling changes from Gabel or similar forms. Because the evidence is mixed, the exact path in any individual family line can vary.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes treated Gable and Gabel as near-variants of Gabby-like pet forms of Gabriel, showing how freely spellings shifted before standardization.
From the historical record
“tical with Garbett and Garbutt. GABLE. Possibly a corruption of Gabriel. GABRIEL. A personal name borrowed from the celestial hierarchy, GABY. In many dialects a silly fellow. More probably a nick-name of Gabriel. GAD. GADD. A-Sax. gad, a goad or spear. Halliwell quotes from an old MS. :”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Gable
- Clark Gable (1901–1960)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.