Frequency: (151)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Welsh: from the Welsh personal name Ith(a)el, Old Welsh Iudhail ‘bountiful lord’.
2. English: habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, which is probably named with a derivative of Old English īdel ‘unused ground’, ‘patch of waste land’.
3. English: derogatory nickname from Middle English idel ‘idle’, ‘indolent’, ‘useless’, ‘worthless’, ‘devoid of good works’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
