Where does the last name Scheyli come from?

Question

I'd like to know the origin and meaning of the last name Scheyli (shy-lee, if it is under another spelling).

Thanks!

Answer 1

Wow!  I actually found it!

It's kind of wordy and someone did some SERIOUS research on this name.

So I'll break it down and give you the web site.

Scheyli origionally came from serioously OLD German.(I would have thought Irish)

Other spellings seem to come from the same family that has moved to different places.

Scheyli

SCHEYING

SCHEYHIN

SCHEIHING

SCHEYHING

SHIUHINC

The oldest recorded instance of the surname comes from the ancient Indo–German language in the forms of Kam and Kem. The Latin equivalent is the word Scama, as in the Spanish word escama, shield. In the Old German the surname is found in the form SCHAM or SKIOH. In the Middle German the surname is found in several derivations: SCHIUWE, SCHIUHLICH, SCHIUHEN. All of them have their origin in the root SCHEU.

In the Old German language the root word appears in the form Skioh and Scham. In the Middle German tongue it exists in several derivations such as Schiuwe, Schiuhlich, and Schiuhen. The name is etymologically related to the contemporary German adjective scheu, meaning "shy, timid, timorous, bashful, coy, skittish, or the shying of a horse (The New Cassell's German Dictionary, Funk & Wagnalls,1958)

As an active verb in modern German, SCHEUEN means "fear, dread, shun, avoid, shrink from," as in the German proverb "Tue Recht und schue niemand" (Do right and fear no one). The reflexive form of the verb (SCHEUEN VOR) means "be afraid of, hesitate at, be shy." The nominative form of the verb (SCHEUEN SEIN) means "be frightened, take fright, shy."

In the year 1283 the surname is found in the Middle Age city of Eßlingen am Neckar, which is about 1/2 mile upriver Untertürkheim in the interesting form "SHIUHINC".

In the year 1334 the surname appears for the first time in the "modern" form SCHEYHING, in Giengen, a town about 60 km east of Untertürkheim/Stuttgart. This same form is found from the year 1492 in Bad Cannstatt, a village about 2 km north of Untertürkheim, in perhaps the most ancient name of a registered ancestor, ANDRES SCHEYHING. This is also the surname of the most ancient ancestor registered in Untertürkheim, MATTHIS SCHEYHING.

The name likely refers to a person in whose presence others became shy, hesitant, fearful, filled with dread.

The family surname is a rare and unusual name in Germany these days.

The spelling "Scheiling" is the form used in Chile and the USA and also by family members in Untertürkheim. Families of Kassel and Frankfurt, and also some in Bad Cannstatt and Sernheim, use "Scheyling". In Wangen, across the Neckar River from Untertûrkheim, they have inherited the form "Scheyling".

Answer 2

assuming your line is in the US, I also find records of the name in the census, and an immigration record of a Wilhelm Scheyli.

If you start with YOU, and work back to a family member born prior to 1930, one of us should be able to pick up those records back for you.

Can't beat the first answer though.. give that lady a ten pointer.