What is the nationality of the surname "Stansell"?

Question

What is the nationality of the surname Stansell...cause it's my surname, and i've been wondering my entire life what nationality it's of.

Answer 1

There are a lot of theories floating around including Germany (Palatinate), The Netherlands/Holland, England, France, and Poland.

Answer 2

This is what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name,

Stansell Name Meaning and History

English: possibly a variant spelling of Stancil.

Possibly an Anglicized or Americanized spelling of German Stanzel or Stenzel.

hope this helps.

Answer 3

The meaning of the surname STANSELL is - one who lived in a rough, stone hut.

Answer 4

Being African-American is not irrelevent. Most African-Americans were given the surname of their former slave owners after the Civil War or were allowed to take any surname they wanted. They were not hereditary surnames that were passed down from a parent. The people captured in Africa and brought to North America as slaves did not have surnames because Africa was still tribal at that time. These names were thrust upon them and rarely if ever indicate the ethnic heritage of the people being given the names.

If you would like help tracing your family tree, we'd be glad to help you find when your family got the name and where they were from. According to the 1860 census, the following people were slave owners in the South and this is the number of slaves who they owned.

David Stansell District 20, Cobb, Georgia  (3)

Joel Stansell Newton, Georgia (15)

William Stansell Lower 17, Talbot, Georgia  (6)

W H Stansell Dalton, Whitfield, Georgia (7)

G W Stansell District 11, Whitfield, Georgia  (1)

Thos Stansell Barnwell, South Carolina (20)

Willis Stansell Barnwell, South Carolina  (5)

John Stansell Barnwell, South Carolina (1)

Edwin Stansell Barnwell, South Carolina (6)

Answer 5

Stansel/l  

Last name origin & meaning:

Variant of English Stancil or possibly an Americanized spelling of German Stanzel or Stenzel.

Stancill    

Last name origin & meaning:

English: variant spelling of Stancil.

Stanzel  

Last name origins & meanings:

German: from a pet form of the Slavic personal name Stanislav.

German: from a pet form of a short form of the personal name Constantinus.

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Stansell

This is one of those unusual English habitational names which is well recorded back to the medieval times but appears to have "no home". This is because either it is topographical and means one who dwells by a stony stream from the Old English "stein-waella", or it derives from some now "lost" medieval village, or it is locational from the village of Stanwell in Middlesex the intrusive "S" in the surname being a local dialectal additive to aid pronunciation. Either way the name is long recorded, examples include Elizabeth Stansell, who married one Robert Harris at the church of St. Peters, Pauls Quay, London on February 8th 1614, Johannes Stansell christened at St. Martins in the Field, Westminster on January 26th 1675, and the variant Stansall on June 8th 1686, when Thomas Stansall married Elizabeth Stephens at St. James, Dukes Place, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of George Stannsell, which was dated September 29th 1601, married at St. Katherines by the Tower, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603.

Being African American is almost irrelevant, you don't have an African name, it is a European last name which entered your paternal lineage at some point in the past.

Edit : Being African American is almost irrelevant for exactly the reasons that GenevievesMom gives, it has nothing to do with the the original source, or possible nationality, of the surname Stansell. The origins of the bearer of the surname Stansell, or indeed any other surname, can be of almost any nationality you'd care to nominate. And the questioner asks

>What is the origin of the surname "Stansell" ?<