Frequency: (494)
(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: topographic name for someone living by a knoll or hilltop, from Middle English knelle (Old English cnyll(e), cnell(e), a derivative of Old English cnoll), or a habitational name from a minor place named with this word, for example Knell or Knelle in Sussex.
2. South German: from Middle High German knellen ‘to cause to explode’, ‘to snap one's fingers’, hence a nickname for a noisy, loud-mouthed person, or in Swabia and Bavaria for someone who cursed a lot.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
