Frequency: (3658)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: metonymic occupational name for a maker of rope, especially the type of stout rope used in maritime applications, from Anglo-Norman French cable ‘cable’ (Late Latin capulum ‘halter’, of Arabic origin, but associated by folk etymology with Latin capere ‘to seize’).
2. English: possibly from an Old English personal name, Ceadbeald.
3. English: metonymic occupational name for a horseman, from Middle English cabal ‘horse’.
4. From German Göbel (see Goebel), assimilated to the English name.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
