The surname ABEL. It is an ancient Jewish surname?

[benny1982]

Hi

According to many sources the surname Abel is Biblical. I have an Abel surname in my tree. Apparently it was bought to England by crusaders and Pilgrims returning from the Holy Land in about the 12th century. Does this mean that in many cases, the surname is ancient Jewish?

Ben

[stonewall]

Hi

According to many sources the surname Abel is Biblical. I have an Abel surname in my tree. Apparently it was bought to England by crusaders and Pilgrims returning from the Holy Land in about the 12th century. Does this mean that in many cases, the surname is ancient Jewish?

Ben

i found this if it helps

The boy's name Abel \a-bel\ is pronounced AY-bel. It is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "breath, vapour". From the Hebrew name Hevel, and the meaning implies vanity or worthlessness. The name may also derive from an Assyrian word meaning "meadow

[emeralddragon]

Have a few Abel`s in my husband`s family,Mind you they also have a Shadrack ,a Mescah and believe it or not an Abendigo !!!!!!!
Couldn`t believe it when I found the family on the Census and husband`s still thinks I made it up

[Peter Goodey]

It's a straightforward case of an English forename being adopted as a surname. The forename Abel was biblical in origin (so there was the biblical Jewish connection).

As a surname, it is simply English. Other common examples of this sort of thing are ADAMS (Adam) and ELLIS (Elias).

[spison]

I have ABELL in my ancestry and my grandfather drummed into me (gently of course) the distinction between the two names. I don't know why it changed but it did so in England as it was ABELL before it came to Australia. Both families were represented in the Newcastle area of NSW.

[Gareth Abel]

My surname is Abel, and in my case it was brought to the UK by my great-great-grandfather who was a Jew from what is now Latvia. Given that many Abel lines seem to go back to the middle ages I suspect those of Jewish origin are the minority