Thiel
A German surname that most often comes from a shortened form of a personal name such as Dietrich or Theodor.
The #3,601 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,250 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Thiel is generally understood as a shortened German family name, often linked to older given names such as Dietrich or related names beginning with Thi- or Die-. In older German naming, longer names were frequently clipped to a short form like Thiel, Thiele, or Till, and those pet forms later became inherited surnames. Some 19th-century writers also suggested other possibilities, including connection with local names or other personal-name forms, so the exact origin can vary by family.
History
The surname is well established in German-speaking areas, especially in northern and central Germany, and appears in several related spellings such as Thiele and Thielke. Historical surname writers often treated Thiel as part of a broader group of short German names formed by truncation, rather than as a name with a single fixed source. In immigrant communities, especially in the United States, the spelling was often kept as Thiel.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars explicitly grouped Thiel with shortened German names that had lost their endings over time, making it a classic example of a clipped surname.
From the historical record
“Teece. See Tice Teed. See Tidd and Tate Teele. From Thiel (?) ; a loc. n., France. Or A.S. Thyle, Tilla, Dil, Til; G. Tille, Tylle ; D.B. Tihel, Tehel ; Dch. Tiele, Til ; Fr. Thil ; p.n. (good)”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)Notable people named Thiel
- Peter Thiel (b. 1967)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.