ANSWERS: 1
  • According to ancestry.com, two possible origins: 1.English: variant of Mansell. ( (of Norman origin): habitational or regional name from Old French mansel ‘inhabitant of Le Mans or the surrounding area of Maine’. The place was originally named in Latin (ad) Ceromannos, from the name of the Gaulish tribe living there, the Ceromanni. The name was reduced to Celmans and then became Le Mans as a result of the mistaken identification of the first syllable with the Old French demonstrative adjective. status name for a particular type of feudal tenant, Anglo-Norman French mansel, one who occupied a manse (Late Latin mansa ‘dwelling’), a measure of land sufficient to support one family. some early examples, such as Thomas filius Manselli (Northumbria 1256), point to derivation from a personal name, perhaps the Germanic derivative of Mann 2 Latinized as Manzellinus.) 2)in some cases perhaps an Americanized spelling of German Munzel, a habitational name from a place so named near Hannover or from Monzel near Trier. To find which one, you would need to trace backwards from yourself, filling in the details for each generation until you arrive at your immigrant ancestor. His personal origin should be in the shipping records, but then you would have to follow the train (much more difficult overseas) until you come to some degree of certainty as to the origin of the name itself.

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