Is Mitchell an Irish surname?

Question

Is Mitchell an Irish surname?

Answer 1

To add to the excellent information that others have given, the New York Passengers Lists supplied to Ancestry.com list the following Ports of Origin for those entering New York with the surname of Mitchell:

England: 2312

Ireland: 1687

Scotland: 1152

Great Britain: 481

Germany: 40

Bermuda: 23

Within the United Kingdom, the greatest percentage of Mitchells come from Yorkshire (21%) and London (14% respectively.  Obviously, each Mitchell family needs to trace its own roots to determine its individual point of origin rather than relying on generalized etymologies.

Answer 2

Surname: Mitchell

Recorded in many forms including Machel, Matchell, Matsell, Mitchel, Mitchell, Michell, Mickle, Muckle and others, this is an surname of English and Scottish origins. Introduced into Western Europe by returning knights and pilgrims of the famous Crusades to free the Holy Land, it derives from the medieval Hebrew and Biblical name "Michel", meaning "He who is like the Lord". The name is first recorded in circa 1160, when one Michaelis de Areci appears in the Danelaw Documents of the city of London, and Michel de Whepstede in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Suffolk in 1327. The Royal Registers of England for the year 1219 have the entry of William Michel. He was paid three pence per day, probably now equivalent to 50 or $80, for keeping two of the Kings' wolfhounds. Other examples include Richard Mukel in the Hundred Rolls of the landowners of the county of Shropshire, in 1255, Agnes Mitchell who married Richard Freeman on June 24th 1582, at St. Dunstan's in the East, Stepney, city of London, whilst f***y Matsell married George Phillips, at St Leonards Shoreditch in the city of London, on August 13th 1792. A coat of arms associated with the surname has the blazon of a black shield, charged with an escallop between three gold birds' heads erased. The first recorded spelling of the family name may be that of Gilbert Michel. This was dated 1205, in the Curia Regis Rolls of Northumberland, during the reign of King John of England, 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

http://www.surnamedb.com/

And the following information came from www.ancestry.com

Mitchell Name Meaning and History

from the Middle English, Old French personal name Michel, vernacular form of Michael.

nickname for a big man, from Middle English michel, mechel, muchel ‘big’.

Irish (County Connacht): surname adopted as equivalent of Mulvihill.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

It's Scottish or English but a lot of Irish people carry it. It's either derived from the given name Michael or from an old Anglo-Saxon word "michel" meaning "big".

Answer 4

No, it might be of very distant Irish origin but it doesn't have any of the characteristics of Irish surnames. I'm Irish and live in Ireland and don't know anyone with that surname.

Answer 5

i believe it to be more of a thuggy-gangster type name...

Answer 6

don't think so, usually tell if there's an o' / mac' / daughter of and son of eg sirname o'brian means daughter of, well i woukdn't be certian but it's some such shite as that, obviously it's not to be taken at face value there are lot of irish name that would have an o or mac inffront!

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93_Maoi... - according to Wikipedia it is. Not the most reliable source, I know... I had an Irish relative who had the surname Mitchell (my Nana's brother-in-law).